Newcomer of the valley
by hidden stranger
Summary: Dragon Warrior Po has brought peace to the valley, but can he bring the same to a stranger who seeks his help. As unsettling news is brought to the panda's attention, should he aid this soul, can he? Please reivew and tell me what you think.
1. Chapter 1

A/N, Greetings readers, this is story is something I've been brooding over for a while now; even during my one shots recently. One thing I want to make clear, the leading OC character in this story is not to be confused with Slinky Thief's character in "Masked Warrior". I've wanted to write a story in the KFP series using a raccoon for a while now, they're my true favorite animal. I apologize for making this sound so paranoid, I just wanted to make sure all my bases were covered and everyone's on the same page. Okay now that this has been said, onward with the story.

Disclaimer: I own no one but the leading OC SinCato.

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Hot weather was always the worst for traveling long distances, it matched up nicely with the terrible rains that would appear in each season. Being a creature that donned a fur coat added to the problem, creating dehyradration and dizzy spells for the traveler. Taking a moment to wipe his sweaty brow with his right paw, the newcomer to the Valley of Peace quickly shook off his continuos pleas from his legs to sit and rest, and instead continued on his way, into the valley.

Hu shim, a rabbit daughter of the local produce store owner, could be found heading on her journey back home after a long day's experiance from visiting with the dragon warrior among the other children. It had been close to a year after the defeat of the snow leapord known as Tai Lung, in the months of recovery, the rabbit had aided her father and mother with rebuilding the main corner of their home where the large snow cat had smashed into. Now their home had been finished good as new, she was delighted to be able to have a room once more, having grown older than really nessesary to sleep with her folks anymore. Now that the feared leapord was gone and news had spread about the dragon warrior, the valley found itself free of the majority of crimes and attacks on villagers. As she walked down the darkened path though, her shadow did not go unnoticed, a set of menacing eyes found themselves behind the girl, treading ever so slowly, stalking her. The newcomer to the village walked out of the closing establishment as he tied up his bag and threw it over his shoulder when he heard a scream.

Finding noone else having heard the cry out of the night, he pursued the voice's direction he had heard it originate from. Turning into a side alley, he soon found his answer, the scream he had picked up on was for good reason. A little white and black spotted rabbit, was being held by the strong arm of a boar, the look in the beast's eyes said something terrible was being planned for the little one. The newcomer slipped into the shadows, unsure of who to go to for help, what to do? If he left, the child wouldn't have a chance, her face soon plastered on the missing people poster he had viewed on a wall of the entrance. Noone ever found those who go missing because of ones like this boar. This selfish greedy monster was no stranger to the newcomer, he had seen what their kind was like. They were intolarably horrible in their actions, anything they wanted, they took, wether it was money, one's innocence or a life.

A rage soon filled the newcomer as he slipped into the shadows and scaled the wall of the side of the alley. Silently undoing the buttons on his robe. The Boar, still completly focused on the struggling little rabbit who continued to plead for help, to no avail when her mouth was clamped over with a large hoof. The newcomer, concealed in darkeness decided it would be somewhat wrong to kill someone in his first day in the new valley, the one he was seeking most likely would not be pleased either. Pulling down the black cloth the covered his mouth and nose, he called out into the alley from his hiding spot, letting his voice bounce off the walls and encircle the boar and rabbit, taunting preventing him from finding the speaker.

"You there, COWARD,

If you wish to survive long enough to leave this place

you will release the child!" The boar stood for a moment, glaring in all directions as he kept a firm hold upon the rabbit. He stood in silence for a secound before responding.

"And exactly what makes you think I'll do that?" He yelled into the darkness, As he heard this taunting reply, the newcomer clamped his eyes shut tight for a moment as he felt something all to familar rising within him. It was the reason he had traveled this distance to the valley in the first place, the newcomer carried a demon within himself that had become all too well at sufacing itself. From his position in the blackness, a terrible insane laugh came out from the shadows, springing off the walls and hitting the boar in all directions. The sound sent a sever chill through the spine of the boar. Whether he could see his opponant or not, that sickening cackle told him this person was truly enjoying this.

"I was hoping you'd say that." The silloutte whispered down to the pig.

The shadowed one reached inside his robes and produced two blades in both his paws. He watched the boar turn madly in circles trying to see through the darkness and find the voice that toyed with his mind. Leaping from his lofty perch on the rooftop of the side of the alley, the newcomer landed mere feet infront of the boar. Reacting faster than the wild pig was prepare for, a shadow leapt in front of him, thrust his blades between the legs of the pig and pulled back toward himself slashing into his left and right thighs, suddenly crippling the beast and sending him to fall onto the ground in a gasp of pain, giving the girl rabbit a chance to excapse its grasp. He tried to stand, but as he'd put his hands to the ground to push himself up to face his attacker, the black robed one slammed a blade into the boar's paw, forcing him to bellow in pain as blood poured out of the three gaping wounds on his body. Walking up to the head of the pig, the attacker panted and began shaking his head viciously from side to side ,as if trying to remove something that was stuck inside. the knive clad warrior slid the sharp edge under the pig's throat as he leaned in to whisper to the boar.

"I saw what you wanted from that child, I saw how you looked at her. I'm doing everything I can to keep from truly showing you what I believe should happen to things like yourself. Let this be a lesson to you, to use the rest of your life. There are consequences for your actions, and they will always be twice the punishment to the crime." The pig took in stifled ragged breathes as he tried not to move, making the smallest of nods in understanding. The blade was removed from its throat as the creature walked away, not before having the knife in his hoof ripped back out unmercifully sending another chilling cry of agony from the pig. He then walked away, leaving the pig to either bleed out or cry out for help. The pig looked up to see the back of his attacker leaving him in the alley when he saw him stop. The figure stood for a long moment before whipping around and sending a silver gleaming knife flying into the wall above the pig's head. The knife embedded itself three inches deep into the plaster and concrete above the boar's head, forcing him to flop to the ground again.

"I just wanted to make sure you take this seriously." He walked back over to the pig, grabbed the knife with both hands and wrenched it free and tucked it back safely in his robes. And with that the figure was gone from the pig's sights.

Walking into the light, the newcomer looked around for the little rabbit. He saw the faintest of white feet behind a cart next to a wall. He quickly sheathed his weapons and rebuttoned his black sleevless robe, tying his silver belt tight to complelte his outfit again. He coughed slightly, making it clear he wished for her to come out from beind the cart. She paused before slowly slipping her way from behind the cart, into the moonlight.

When she came into the light and looked to her savior, she saw something unexpected. There stood before her, a short hooded black sleeveless robed creature, with a silver belt around his waist. He appeared to be no taller than Master Shifu and looking at the rest of him she saw his uncovered arms had grey fur with black glovelike fur that started close to his elbows down to his fingertips. He had a thick grey tail that had black rings along it as it swished side to side. From what she could see, there was a black cloth under the hood, sheilding his identity from her, she couldn't even seem to be able to see his eyes again shrouded in darkness. She took a scared but curious step forward, knowing this person before her had come to her rescue, which must have meant she was in good hands right?

"Who..who are you?" She asked trembling slightly. The hooded figure stared down at her before pulling down his cloth from his face again, letting it rest under his chin and around his neck.

"My name is Sincato." he said with a soft voice as he pulled back his hood of his robe. As it fell behind his shoulders he stepped forward into the light. The rabbit saw his face was mostly gray and with two black triangles over his eyes, a white line tracing the top of both eyebrows. Hu looked into Sincato's eyes, they reminded her of those of the dragon warrior Po, emerald green, staring down at her with a gleem of positive energy. He looked up from the girl standing close to him and peered around the village before returning his eyes to her.

"We need to get you home, would you mind leading the way?" She nodded and began heading down the main street of the village. He walked along next to her, keeping hi eyes peeled for anything that appeared out of the oridinary. When they stopped outside of a standing alone home, he soon found something DID look out of the oridinary, to him at least. Hu noticed him staring at the oddly decorated home with a questionable look. Smiling she explained,

"Hehe yeah... my mother's an artist. My dad doesn't really care what happens to the house as long at it doesn't get too cluttered or messy." Sin nodded, walking up to the door of the home, doing his best to not knock over the apparent "art" that laid strewn around the place. Knocking on the door, they waited momentarily as the door creacked open and the face of a middle aged rabbit greeted them. Sincato nodded in a formal greeting as Hu shim ran inside the house, dragging her mother alongside her.

"Mother! Mother I was almost kidnapped tonight coming home!" The mother rabbit's eyes widened in shock as her daughter continued her story.

"This giant pig had his dirty paws on me and was dragging me into this dark alley when all of a sudden a voice came out of nowhere and told him to let me go. He didn't listen and then the man over here jumped down infront of him and hurt him so he'd let me go." Hearing himself being mentioned in the story, Sincato looked up from his view at the floor, to the mother and father rabbit who clutched thier child tight in a hug. They looked over the direction their child pointed, to the black robed raccon who stood before them in the corner, his hands in front of him, interwined together. He gave a side smile out of the corner of his mouth as the mother walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you sir, for bringing my baby home to me safe. I'd thought for the longest time our fears in the valley were finished when that snow leapord was destroyed by the dragon warrior., I suppose not." She said looking in his eyes.

"Speaking of the dragon warrior. He's actually why I'm in the village actually, can either of you tell me where to find him?" He inquired to the parents of HU Shim

"Yes yes we know where to find him, but first, you must be so tired from traveling. Allow us to set you up with a room for the evening and we'll show you to the dragon warrior first thing in the morning." Sincato nodded in agreement, he was rather tired, exausted to be fully honest and he could wait till morning for what he had come for.

"Oh forgive me for not asking sooner, what is your name dear?" The mother asked politely.

"Oh its-" the child rabbit cut him off by leaping into the air.

"Its Sincato!" She said with a laugh and her father caught her in the air, the raccoon looked back at the mother with a chuckle and a shrug. She smiled back and after an insistance from the father of having a meal together, the mother showed the raccoon to his room. He bid her goodnight and closed the door behind himself as he laid down on the bed and shut his eyes, quickly driffting off into a well needed sleep. In the morning he would finish his journey, but what the black robed raccoon was unaware of, was that his journey had just begun when entered the valley.

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A/N, Ha! okay I finally got this put together, well theres chapter one everybody, please tell me what you think so far and I will do my best to have a soon update but keep in mind I am still school for the most part so be prepared to wait for a minute.


	2. Save me

A/N, Hey thank you for the reviews, yeah I apologize for my poor capitalization mistakes and spelling. A bad habit I am trying to remove from my future chapters. Well let's continue the story.

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The warm sun rose over the mountains that surrounded the valley, sending its beams of giding light flying in all directions and places over the village. Its bright intensity crawling thrugh the windows of the homes and buisnesses alike. Giving into the following gong that sounded as the sun rose, the citizens of the village slumped out of their warm and comefortable beds and faced another day at work and with family. Hu Shim woke up mostly before her parents, ussually because of her secret desire to head to the stairs of the jade palace and beat the other children there for the daily lesson to get a good seat. Dragging herelf out from the warm covers, she slipped into her daily robes and then creaked open her door. Glancing down the hallway to the guestroom, she checked to see that the coast was clear before tiptoeing down to the room at the very end of the hall. Sliently twisting the knob to the side she opened the door to see if her savior was awake yet. She walked in, finding him still asleep, still in his robes from the night before as if her had merely fallen asleep right as he'd landed on the bed. He had a slight snore with every intake of breath as he laid on his side facing her, his eyes closed relaxingly, his left paw slung over his belly, fingers touching the top of the blanket while his other lay straight out toward her with fingers slightly curled torward him. Looking at him now he appeared so harmless, his thick fluffy tail twitching ever so slightly every other minute.

Deciding that her rescuer needed a proper wake up call, she climbed the front of the bed slowly, being careful to allow the bed to dip when she added her weight to it. Once she found herself completely balanced, she bent down and sprang into the air, preparing for her suprise landing. The snoozing raccoon was never very good at being suprised, so when the young rabbit jumped off the mattress, that alone had woken him. He then opened his eyes to see a white rabbit with dark spots falling toward him at a fast rate. He had only one defense to jump to at that point, scream.

"AAAAHHH!!!" flew from his mouth as the bunny landed upon his chest and sent them both bouncing off the bed and landing upon the hardwood floor. Incredibly dizzy, Sincato shook his head slowly as the rabbit picked herself up and dusted herself off. He gazed in her direction to find her with a large smile on her face.

"Good morning!" The raccoon grimaced a smile as he cracked his neck to the left,

"Is that how you wake up everyone in your house?" He asked rubbing his now bruised chest. She shook her head and laughed.

"Haha nope, just you, you looked too comfortable and its morning now! Everyone should be awake!" He smirked at this, the young rabbit's energy reminded him of his own son's crazy morning antics he would pull on Sincato each day.

"For your information I could have been just well off with my eyes closed for another hour or two thank you very much." He replied to Hu, who walked behind him and stroked his black and gray tail.

"Your tail's just like Master Shifu's, cept he's got red rings on them and his is white."

"Ah, Shifu, hm I suppose you've got a point there kiddo." He said and fluffed the tip of his bushy tail across the child's face. She batted it away playfully and then dragged him to the kitchen where they found her parents preparing breakfast.

Hu's father noticed the raccoon and the rabbit entering and gave a wave of greeting before turning back to the hot pan as he cooked one of Hu's favorite breakfasts, cinnamon pancakes.

"Good morning Sincato, I don't suppose you'd be up for a little breakfast before we make our depart for the palace?" Sincato didn't pass up the oppertunity, he'd always felt it was rude to merely leave without sharing time with those who provided him with shelter and food. Taking a seat he was served two pancakes topped with rasberry jam. Licking his lips he nodded in appreciation of his meal before digging in. They ate in silence and then waited till everyone was finished before all getting out of the house and departing for their daily activities. The mother rabbit offered to take Hu and Sincato to the palace as the rabbit father headed for work in his shop. They headed through the valley in the morning sunlight and soon found themselves at the bottem of the palace steps. Sincato looked up to the very top and sighed, he hated steps, first of all he wasn't ALL muscle so he tended to get winded fast and with the sun beating down on the black robes he worse, this would be a long trip. Thankfully though the mother and daughter rabbit were patient about getting there, well the mother was, Hu, not so much as she headed up faster than the other two so she could find a close seat to her teacher Po.

After about almost forty minutes, they reached the top of the stairs to the palace. Hu headed off to her class in the courtyard The mother hugged her daughter goodbye for the day and then took Sincato's paw in her hand.

"I just wanted to say thenk you again for helping my daughter, if theres anything esle we can do to repay you-" Sincato held up a black paw to the mother's insisting.

"No madame, youve done more than enough for myself, I thank you for your great hospitality." He bowed slightly to her, she nodded back and smiled to him as she turned to leave. He watched her decend down the steps and then turned and headed into the palace gates. Opening the large doors, he entered a majestic room, large pillars covered with coiling dragons. Along the walls lay many famous weapons, including the broken staff of master Oogway that lay strung back together on a display in front of his portrait. Sincato wandered down the middle of the decorated room until he accidentally bumped into another person without looking. Getting knocked back astep he looked forward and saw a goose dressed in formal golden robes with a gold hat to match dusting himself off. He looked back at him for a moment silghtly uncomfortable with the raccoon's presence.

"Ahem, um who are you." The goose inquired as he faced a hooded black clad creature who donned a matching black cloth over his muzzle up to his eyes which were also shrouded in blackness. By all standards, the goose could saw he was standing face to face with a bandit, but dared not ask exactly that about the stranger. The raccoon looked at the goose for a moment, he could see the suspicion building in the duck's eyes.

" My name is Sincato, I'm here to see the Dragon Warrior." He said flatly, for an unknown reason his patience seemed to be growing slightly thin with the goose.

"Oh..well heh he's teaching a class right now...is this something immediate he...should know...about?" The goose asked with a small tremble in his voice. Sincato brought a paw to his face pinching the bridge of his nose.

"*sigh* I will wait." The goose nodded and turned away and headed out the doors, most likely to inform his master of Sincato's presence in the hall or warriors. Soon enough he was graced by another stranger who entered the hall. An aged red panda in red robes entered the hall infront of him an walked toward the raccoon.

"Please remove your cover visitor." He said eyeing the black robed stranger. He could understand Zheng's nervousness about this character, he seemed rather dark. Sin pulled back his hood allowing both his black covered triangle ears to spring back up into position, unveiling his natural black mask upon his green eyes. Shifu gestured toard his mouth, reffering to the mouth cloth as well. The raccoon huffed an agitated sigh before pulling down his face piece as well.

"I'm going to make an assumption and say that you must be Master Shifu, correct?" The red panda merely nodded, still keeping his eyes on him.

"My messanger tells me that you wish to see the dragon warrior, your name is Sincato if I'm not mistaken."

"Yes, and yes it is." He responded, the red panda's eyes shifted up to the right, as if trying to recall something from the deep recessions of his mind.

"Your name, its strikingly famiilar for some reason. Any possible reason I would remember you maybe?" Sin merely stood before the teacher of kung fu silent, his expression going blank and slightly cold.

"That is actually for me to disscuss with the dragon warrior in private. "

"You should be aware, I do not approve of those entering this palace, seeking out one of my most reformed students and then shutting me out of the picture. If it is master Po you seek, he will be here soon but in the meantime I wish for you to explain your purpose here." He said in a matter of factly way, his stern glare at the new visitor to the palace growing by the minute. Turning his head to stare at one of the pillars to the left of him for a moment, Sin then looked at the underside of his right paw and began to trace lines on it before he spoke again.

"If you must know why you may remember me, send for the scrolls of the hyranda village, you'll find your answer soon enough when my name is mentioned." Shifu snapped his fingers and out of nowhere appeared the golden clad goose with a rather poor landing.

"Zheng, I'm sending you to Hyranda village for scrolls on this man by the name of Sincato. Leave as soon as you can!" He said and waved him off to begin his journey before turning back to the dark one.

"I will have me answers soon enough stranger, know that there are no secrets with anyone who enters this palace so if you have something to hide, you came to the wrong place.". With that, the kung fu master of the furvious five turned and left the raccoon in the hall of warriors to continue his wait for the dragon warrior. After only a few more minutes the doors creacked open again and Sincato was finally graced with the presence of a...panda? Sincato watched him enter. He had heard tales that this chosen one was unlike anything that had been expected, so in a sense he had been prepared for this actually.

Po walked into the hall of warriors, seeing a short creature dressed in black, with grey fur and a natural black mask upon his green eyes. Even though the figure wasn't presenting himself in an intimidating stance, Po still found himself with a slight chill entering his body as he approached. He came up to the figure as it bowed before him.

"Greetings Dragon Warrior, I had hoped this day would come." He said to the panda. Po Looked down at him and smiled

"Hello there, I can't say honestly that I know you really." He said somewhat hesitantly, unsure if he would offend the guest very easily. The raccoon waved it away with a paw,

"for the moment, its is probobly better that you don't. You will know everything in good time I assure you. For now, I think its appropriate that we get to know eachother, would you mind showing me a little bit around we talk?" The dragon warrior smiled in agreement, he'd been wanting to go and visit his father and get out of the palace for a it. There were times he just needed to take a break from his achieved status in life and go and blend in with the comunity, except when you are the only panda in the village, that tends to get a bit difficult. He led the black robed one down to the stairs of the palace as they headed into the village.

Halfway through, Sincato felt it was a good time to try and break the ice a little bit. He paused and looked back up at the stairs he'd come down.

"I'm not the only one who dislikes the journey back up these am I?" He asked in a humorous fashion. Po looked at him and chuckled.

"Haha of course not, imagine falling down them while getting punched and kicked. That only makes it funner haha!." He and the raccoon shared a laugh as they came down the last of the stone steps of the palace. They made their way down into the village and arrived at Po's father's noodle restraunt. Sincato followed close behind the bear as they navigated to a table. Many villagers were mostly comfortable with the dragon warrior's visits mainly because he was alot like them as he was growing up, they still saw him as the same old Po but never failed to respect his accomplishments as the dragon warrior. Really, in a sense alot of villagers had hoped that the dragon warrior would be able to relate to them so they could feel more comfortable coming to the dragon warrior with their troubles. They both sat down and before Sincato could lift up his hand for a menu, Po beat him to it, placing a large black paw over his quite smaller thinner one.

"Tell me what kind of soup you'd like and I can tell you if its made here." The raccoon stared in question for a moment before the dragon warrior went on. "If you knew about me, I don't suppose you knew what I was before I became...well this." He said, gesturing to himself with both paws. Sincato stared curiously as the bear began to explain his beginning.

"Before I became the dragon warrior, I was a noodle chef here, with my father. Everyday I worked in a kitchen that was just, a little undersized for me anyway, big enough for my dad though, he had lots of space." The raccoon continued to stare until a brown robed goose came up and wrapped his wings around Po's belly.

"Oh son, you come to see me again, and you bring friends as well, how nice!" The goose said, not paying any attention to the now look of dear confusion upon the ringtail's face. Po smiled down at his father before returning his view to the raccoon.

"Ah heh yeah um Dad this is Sincato, Sincato this is my dad, mr. Ping." Shaking his head to bat away the thousands of questions flying through his mind, he absently shook the wing of Po's father. The bird smiled and then asked what they would like for a meal. Po inquired that Sincato should try one of they new diced vegatable noodle soups his father just began making. Sincato agreed and they both sat for a minute as the bird left them, Sin taking all this in that he had just witnessed the best he could. The goose soon returned with hot bowls of soup for both of them to dig in and enjoy. After slurping down the last noodle of the truly amazing soup that he had injested, Sincato desired to know more of this Dragon warrior. So many rumors had been put up for him and he sat in ponderance of what were true and which mere ledgend. But before being able to throw another question, the bear beat him to it with the milliondollar one. Having waited till a few of the remaining villagers had cleared out from the restraunt, Po closed the front doors and asked his father for a few moments of privacy with his guest to talk. The goose smiled in understanding before going into the the upstairs and relaxing for a while.

"So, Sincato, you asked for my help...I'm curious as to how I can really be of service?" The bear said with a questionable expression on his face. Sincato played with the table for a moment before having to meet eyes with the dragon warrior. The ringtailed one hadn't truly wanted to answer the question, he knew if he was going to get anywhere by coming here, it would have to come out sooner or later. This would prove to be one of the harder conversations he'd had in a long time.

"Well, Master Po, I... I need you to set me on a new life so to speak." The panda looked at him, clearerly interested as he continued. "See I'm, well for a while now, I've been holding something inside myself that needs to be deminished from my soul and I have never really found a way to rid myself of this...darkness I carry. I come here to you, asking of you to please...bring me peace. I have heard the tales of what you've done for this valley, I see it with my own eyes. You are the only one I can believe will actually help me. Others have "tried to help me" but their methods are useless and only dragged me further down the path I did not want to go down. I cannot go any further the way I am going, I've lost so very much so I sit before you today asking, please...save me." The raccoon said with a deep and heavy sigh as his eyes fell to the table. Slight tears forming at the corners of his eyes, building and silently drawing down his black mask to his grey cheeks. What Po witnessed before him was a creature in internal suffering, whatever had caused this in Sincato was something very powerful and deep in his heart. The panda looked deeply into the similar green eyes of the raccoon with a look of concern and concentration upon his face. He had always been an upbeat person, one who found certain things hard to take seriuos, but the creature who sat before him had traveled a great distance to see him, believed in him and only him, out of everyone in China, this person saw him as the one who could help him and had beared his soul to him. Po sat for a minute in choosing his words carefully before responding to the ringtailed one.

"Sincato, I am not a miracle worker, nor am I going to tell you that what you ask of me will be easy. You traveling all this way tells me though that you are truly desiring to change yourself, that you believe in this, and as I was taught, if you are to succeed at something, you must first believe. What I will tell you is as long as you tell me everything that must be put on the table for this to work, then I will do everything in my grasp to put you on a new ground in your life however I can and that you will find peace one way or another through this." The bear said, laying a large paw back on the hand of the raccoon. Taking his other big hand, he gently brushed off the tears of the masked one's face. Sincato took several deep ragged breaths as he tried to compose himself again and looked up to the dragon warrior.

"Th Thankyou, Master Po. Thank you so very much." He said before breaking down again and laying both his paw upon the panda's and resting his head on them as the tears flowed once more. Po took one paw and softly ran it over the black robed raccoon's neck and back repeatedly.

"It'll be okay Sincato, you'll be okay." He said comfortingly. above from a higher rooftop, a set of orange fire like eyes and ears had caught all of this. Leaving before her presence was noticed, Tigress headed for the palace. She had no idea of what to make of this visitor. She knew nothing about him, and that was the problem, she saw Po instinctivly at the creature's aid. It was a natural reflex for the bear she'd noticed, wether it was villager or fallen enemy, the bear had a large heart, she just prayed to herself it was not going to hurt him. Zheng would be back with reports on this visitor. they would soon find out what exactly he was up to if anything or if his sincerity was not merly smoke and mirrors.

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A/N, HA! and update! well knew it would take a while to get this together but finally it is off to a true start. I beg of you readers tell me how you feel this is progressing and what you find problems with and what you enjoy! Thank you for reading and agian I will have an update in a little while! Take care and have a nice week. BYE!


	3. Meet and greet the uncomfortable way

A/N, Hello there people. Well I'm found myself into the third chapter of this and I hope you are enjoying it so far. My updates are alittle scattered because of school so I don't really have a true schedule with this story. For right now though lets just concentrate on the new chapter though haha, work out the fine print issues later!

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After saying their goodbyes to Po's father, Sincato and PO headed on their way back to the palace. Arriving at the first stair of the enourmous staircase, both took a minute and sighed at the annoyingly primitave cardio workout they faced. Climbing the stairs like they were accending a cliff face, Sincato and Po headed up to the palace where the furious five stood in awaiting the meeting of this traveler to the valley.

Getting to the top, Po flopped on his back for a moment to catch his breath. The raccoon himself was slightly winded, leaning forward with his hands on his thighs supporting himself as he breathed slower and slower. Viper slid forth up to the raccoon, looking him up and down to get an idea of who she was in the presence of. Sin calmly let his eyes follow her as the others came forward.

"Ah, I take it you must be Viper?" He said to the serpentress, who showed a small smile in agreement. He then looked over in the direction where the others stood next to Shifu. Tigress did her best to not to give off one of her famous menacing glares, monkey cracked his knuckeles with a questionable look poised at the ringtailed one while crane leaned in to mantis who whispered something in his ear, sending him into a small chuckle. Sin noticed this but knew better then to ask upon it, not really wishing to start a conflict when he hadn't even been here for more than a day. The raccoon let his fluffy tail swish gently side to side in a friendly manner as he watched as viper slithered back to the rest of the group. He saw the look upon Shifu's face read one of extreme distrust and discomfort. Po knew he would have to pull his master aside and explain what hadn't been disscussed in front of the red panda so maybe there wouln't be as great of tension between him and Sincato. Finally Crane decided to break the awkward silence between the visitor and the group when he approached Sincato.

"Ahem, my name is Crane as you probobly already know, this is Mantis, Monkey and Tigress of the Furious Five. Welcome to our home." He said with a gesturing wing before he folded it back to his side. Sincato nodded as he unbuttoned his robe to let more air in to cool his body. As he did though, a sudden breeze had picked up and blew his robe wide open, exposing his black vest of sheathed knives and black and silver pants. Seeing this, Master Shifu held up a paw in a sign of hold back as the five immediatly took their defensive positions.

"Sin, why, may I ask, do you carry those?" He asked in a calm/accusing voice as he pointed to the raccoon's vest. Sincato quickly buttoned himself up as he responded to the master.

"Well...protection really. I have a few skills with these and they've...kept me safe." He said in nervous fashion, wringing his hands together as he felt all the eyes upon the crowd on him once again. He looked up to see Tigress come toward him, her gaze set to one that could pierce steel.

"Who really are you? Only warriors and bandits carry a vest like that, you don't appear to be much of a warrior to me." She said calously, forcing the raccoon to flinch a bit, looking back at the feline with a narrowed glance. The dragon warrior walked up to the five.

"Um Tigress, for now, he's actually a student of...mine." This statement forced the tiger and Shifu to raise an eyebrow towards the panda. Looking back and forth from the raccoon to the panda she sent the bear a look that simply said _I'll be talking with you alot later! _Shifu's glance said much of the same, the bear knew he was in for a long evening. Upon recieving this, Sincato noticed the bear cringe ever so slightly. He already felt bad for getting his teacher messed up in this, he drastically attempted to change the subject.

"I ..um have wanted to see what your team's training hall is like Master Tigress, would you do me the curtousy of a tour? I'd love to see you all in action." Tigress cooled her head for a moment before answering the small black robe one. While many knew the fighting style of the five through the village, she was never one to not preform in front of a stranger.

"Sigh, I suppose, if you can do myself the curtousy of showing us what you yourself are even capable of with those?" He smiled a little as she turned and led them to the training hall. The five took their positions as they began to fly through the course. Sincato watching as he entered, stood cocentrating as he watched each of the members of the jade palace display their impressive skills. Tigress finished through the course first as she broke off an arm of the seven swinging clubs of oblivion, sending the shrapnel of woodchips toward Po and his new student. Po and Sincato began brushing the chips off themselves as the five regathered.

Getting the last of the debrie off his robes, Sincato stepped forward and faced the five. Looking down thirty feet at one of the beams of the training hall, Sincato took out two blades and with his right paw, played with them in his knuckles for a moment and then flung them at breakneck speed into the beam. Sending them into a single spin, both connected into the pole a few inches deep and away from each other. This caused a small smirk on the red panda's face as he watched the raccoon walk up to his tools and climb the beam to retrieve them. Digging his right hand's claws into the wood, he pulled free his knives one by one before jumping back down and resheathing them. He turned and faced the five and their teacher, all looked back with gazes of approval. Tigress maintaining her cold blank expression, a judgement difficult to read indeed. Viper looked from the new gashes in the wood to the raccoon back and forth. Monkey looked over with both eyebrows slightly raised, Crane let a small grin in his beak form and Mantis tapped his chin in suprise.

"Well, you do have a trick or two up your sleeve don't you?" Shifu inquired to the raccoon who stood silently looking back at him with a blank expression.

"While we focus in close quarter combat, do you prefer to keep a distance or are you able to spar with another?" The raccoon's eyes drifted to the left somewhat and then returned onto the master. He raised a paw and let it waver symbolizing his abilities were limited. Po stepped up infront of the black clad raccoon, he wanted to leave the training hall before more self proving was asked of his new student.

"Well, its getting to be sunset, anyone else feeling the hunger on?" Mantis began heading for the door immediatly, followed shortly by the rest of the five, Shifu and Po. Sincato looked over the training hall for a sec before catching up with his new teacher and the rest.

After the group of seven had their fill of the dragon warriors famous cooking, the five excused themselves from the table and Po showed his new student to a guest room in the palace. Sincato waved him good night and then sat down on the bed and undid his bindings of his feet/sandels. Letting his black toes curl and crack as they streched outward, He did several twisted to get the stiffness out of his back and neck before removing his vest and robe and curling up into his bed and let the sleep take over him. As he drifted off though, he'd soon wished he hadn't.

Flashback

_Stepping out of his shop built next to his home, he headed out to the house to grab a little snack. He only made it a few feet when a skyward attack came from right over his head._

_"Rawr! You're going down daddy!" bellowed an all too familar voice as he looked up and was soon brought to the ground. Suprise had been the simplest way of putting it as his son fell from the tree branches, leaping onto his back, dragging him to the grassy floor. Sincato laughed and responded with a tickling ability he'd mastered over his son's six years of growing up. He smiled inwardly and outwardly at his playful young son continued to giggle and scream in happiness as they wrestled eachother around the yard. His wife, donning her usual blue and black robes came outside and leaned against the doorframe, a grin along her face as she rolled her eyes at her childish family engaging in such silly behavior, till she found herself forced to join in, taking her son's side and tickling Sincato in the back of the neck that always got a response. The father soon got a chill through his spine as his wife found his secret spot of weakness. He whipped around and pulle her to the floor, making her squeal in suprise, her completly washed outfit now with slight grass stains in them. She frowned at him and playfully smacked him on the head, he shook it off returning the favor with a silly face, one that constantly sent his child into great laughter. As this fond and wonderful part always hit the raccoon, he knew what laid still to come, black clouds covered the skies, a fire in the distance, screams and yells-_

"Sincato!" A harsh yet gentle voice pulled him from his rest. The masked one opened his eyes rapidly, finding them very moist and blurry. He looked to the source of the voice and found the serpent member of the five in front of him.

"I didn't mean to wake you, but you were crying in your sleep. Are you alright?" She asked with slow caution in her voice, trying to keep the right words coming out. As he wiped the wetness from his eyes he turned back to the viper, she donned a look of concern/curiosity in her eyes.

"Ahem...um..how long have you been...here?"

"Just when you woke up, It was just that I heard you through the wall and came to see if everything was alright." He sat up and ran a paw over his forehead down to the back of his neck.

"Well, I'm fine...just a ...dream. You know, one you didn't expecially want but it comes anyway. If that makes sense I hope." He uttered softly, he didn't need to involve others in his personal life just yet, when Zheng returned with the information, they'd get the whole story, but while he could, he wanted to stay away from it.

"Sorry for waking you if I did, I'll do my best to keep it down." She nodded and headed for the door. Turning back to him she gave him one last little inspective look with her eyes as she left, closing the door behind her. Sincato blew out a deep breath of air and put his thumb and forefinger to his bridge of his nose and massaged his face. Pulling out an old piece of folded canvas, he opened it up on his lap and stared down at the picture in front of him. It was a painting of a very beautiful female raccoon in blue and black robes with a black robed boy on her lap. He traced over her face with his left paw gently as ever, asingle tear running down his mask once again. Folding it back up and putting it back in hi robe, he decided to wait until he knew everyone else in the palace would be asleep before he tried to return to his slumber.

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A/N, Hey thanks again for the read, hoping to get some reviews on my work if you may, I'd really appreciate it. Sometimes I really feel like I need some direction in certain parts of this so whatever you guys can do to help would be awsome! No clue when the next chapter will be because of finals week but sometime after this next two weeks maybe. Take care!


	4. evening walks and worries

A/N, Well this has taken a fine few turns in the last few chapters. I feel every now and again that certain ideas should be combined while others shouldn't be. The most difficult part is finding exactly where to draw the line haha. If anyone feels they have something to contribute to this story by all means speak up my readers!

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After Sincato had gone to bed and turned out his light for the evening. A series of muffled footsteps headed towards the dragon warrior's door. Sliding it open slowly and quietly, Tigress slid her way into the panda's room and came next to him. Running a gentle paw down the side of the bear's face, she awoke Po without causing him to have a fright by accident. It wasn't the first time she'd snuck into his room to have a late evening chat with the panda. The night of Tai Lung's by the newly acclaimed dragon warrior, she'd come to speak with him about her past actions toward the panda. It had taken a great shot to her personal ego and pride she carried to tell someone she was out of place with what she's said and done to him. As much as she beat herself up over finally coming to the realization of what this panda meant to the palace and to the valley, she was thankful he was the kind that merely pushed it into the wind and let the past be just the past, only looking towards the future and constantly positive.

Pulling the panda out for the first evening conversation they'd ever had began very awkward. Not knowing exactly how to start off her apology, she attempted to give him a compliment on how he'd improved which had ended up in a small insult, forcing the panda to raise and eyebrow at the tiger's nervous and uncomfortable state before he'd finally just asked her to tell him what was on her mind. These days, they were much easier to talk to one another about what was one either's mind. Tigress had to admit she'd never really expected to, but she'd found herself opening up more and more with each nightly disscussion. Awaking the bear, she curled two fingers towards her in a "Follow me" motion to Po. The bear silently got up and followed the striped feline out of the room. They headed out of the palace and began on their walk through the village as they spoke.

Tigress, " Po, I want to know what exactly is that person doing here? You're telling master Shifu and eeryone else he's your student?" The dragon warrior looked at her and nodded before answering her question.

"He's a person who traveled a great many miles to seek salvation from me and really just me. I asked him before and he wouldn't see anyone else. He truly believes that I can help him." He said, letting his glance turn to one of the darken houses as they continued along quietly. Tigress let out a sigh of frustration

"Po, I don't trust him, he gives me a bad feeling, like he's done something horrible or about to. I know thats not a smart way to approach people I've never met but something seems off about him." The panda ran a hand over his shoulder,

"I can understand that, yeah he freaks me out alot too. But if you'd seen how he spoke to me this afternoon when we were at my dad's shop, maybe your view on him would change a little?" The cat looked at him with a stern face, she wasn't easily moved by small sob stories and how was she to know he was teling Po the truth anyhow. For all she knew with what little that ringtailed annoyance in her mind had revealed so far about himself, he could be in alliance with the wolf clan or the alligator mob possbily. She lifted a paw to her brow and dragged it down her face as she tried to open her mind as Po could, but there was a huge difference between the panda and herself. In her experiance, many strangers she'd come across were always hard to find reason to trust, merely becuase they could be up to something or sent by someone.

"Tigress, I know you don't like this really, but I need to help him, I wouldn't do this if I didn't really think he can be helped." Po said, turning his head to Tigress. She could tell by his voice he was already dedicated to this person's outreach to him.

"sigh, well....look just be careful about what your doing alright, silly panda." She said, Po's face lit up with a warm smile as he wrapped an arm around the feline master.

"I promise I will Tigress, though I doubt you will, you can stop worriying yourself over lil ole mee!! He said in a cutesy voice as he leaned on the feline's shoulder in a playful manner. She rolled her eyes and lightly punched him in the shoulder.

"Psshh, Yeah its always about you isn't it?" She asked him skeptically, he shrugged his shoulders and smirked as they turned to head back up to the palace. Bidding eachother a silent goodnight, the tiger and the panda entered their rooms and went to get what little sleep they could.

As the daylight broke out through the valley, the raccoon found himself up bright and early, quietly walking outside the palace around the top of the mountain that overlooked the village. He stopped at the edge and sat for a minute. Being in this place itself had a very soothing effect on him since he'd gotten here, minus the attack on the boar but that was completely nessesary. He watched two of the villagers scale a tower the held a large bell on the very top of it, climbing slowly to wake the valley and traditionally start their usual day. Once the bell sounded, he knew the five would be awake, most proper of a time to head back. Timing himself by measuring the time it took the pigs to make it to the top, he measured in his time it took to return to the guest room. In his hurry to make it back into his room he collided with the red panda master Shifu.

"OMMFH!" They both sounded as both ringtailed creatures smacked into eachother, knocking both of them to the floor. Shifu shook his head for a moment, trying to get his bearing back affter the suprise encuonter. He looked up to see a black paw extended to him. He grunted while narrowing his eyes as he stood on his own. The raccoon looked side to side in a sheepish manner before dusting himself off and resting his arms at his sides as he stood before the teacher of Kung Fu. They both looked to the blind corner as the bell rang and voices could be heard simutaniously.

"Good morning Master!." Sincato raised an eyebrow to this as the five looked in his direction in a questioning manner. The raccoon was soon greeted by the end of a bamboo stick to the back of his legs as Shifu moved into his usual space before his students. Monkey let out a slight chuckle at the raccoon as he watched him quickly leap to the side, glaring at the teacher of Kung Fu. He slid his way over to Po as they left the bunkhouse, greeting the panda with a sheepish look as they headed toward the training hall. After they'd gotten deep into their training session, Sincato watching on the sidelines, Shifu headed out to the hall of warriors to meditate. As he light the candles along the wall before him he heard the slight flapping of wings and turned to see the messanger goose Zheng divebomb into the hall for a less than perfect landing. Dusting himself off, the goose walked up to Shifu with a ceramic tube containing a scroll.

"Ah good to have you back so soon Zheng." The goose nodded in reply

"Yes Master Shifu, I came back as soon as I possibly could! You must read this now!!!" He forced the scroll into Shifu's hands and watched him unroll and begin to read it.

"Is this true?" The goose nodded, shaken by the very contents of the parchment in the red panda's hands. Shifu narrowed his eyes as he finished the parchment and then rolled it back up.

"What should we do master?" Zheng inquired in a panicing voice. The panda looked over at him and blew out a sigh.

"We will deal with this after training."

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A/N, haha now ya gotta wait till my next update to find out what happens!


	5. Of crime and tell

A/N, Hey readers, so I decided to do a clarity chapter to give you all the full picture of why Sincato has come to Po with his problems. Hopefully you'll enjoy this!

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Sincato sat and watched Master Shifu enter the training room as the Five progressed with their training throughout the course. It had been Po's advice that he only watch them through the course so he could keep from getting hurt. Sincato agreed, seeing as how he lacked the skills the masters before him carried. As he watched the red panda enter the room, his eyes were greetede with the following of...Zheng?

_THE MESSANGER GOOSE!_

Sincato felt a familar heat fly up his body, sending small drips of sweat acrossd his masked brow. He watched as Shifu looked in his direction, a face of no true expression donnned the teacher as he glanced at the raccoon sitting perched slighly on the top of an armor wardrobe. Trying not to give himself away, Sincato returned the look with a slight tilted head as his eyes fell upon the messanger goose. His eyes flew like small daggers into the goose's view. The golden cad bird fidgited uncontrollably as he continued being stared down. Shifu stood with the bird and directed his attention to the furious five as they got to the finishing moves of their training. As the five and Po stepped forth to their master, Sincato slid down from the wardrobe and stood next to Tigress and faced the red panda and goose.

Shifu stared at Po and then locked his eyes on the black robed ringtail as he began to speak.

"Students. That will commence your training for the day as I'm sure your eager to hear something of great importance." He said with a small glare sent Sincato's way. The raccoon began darting his eyes around the room as the red panda continued.

"Messanger Zheng has returned from his trip with news some of you are most likely unaware of." Viper, Tigress and Po squinted in curiosity as they stepped forward in question.

"What is the news of Master?" Tigress asked of her teacher Shifu. The great Kung Fu teacher hesitated as he looked his pupil in the eyes and then down to the raccoon.

"The news is of our visitor, Sincato. He has brought himself into our palace, asking of help....as a convicted felon excapee." A sudden rush of shock jolted through the Five as they turned to look over at Sincato. Po's eyes became like saucers as the bear became soon to dismiss this.

"Master, you...this is wrong, not him?" He said in an unnconvincing tone to even himself as the panda looked sown to his great teacher. Shifu held a glare on Sincato who stared right back with very little to no sign of shock or misdoing. Sincato Looked toward the dragon warrior as he suddenly felt his ears drop slowly as the teacher continued.

"Sincato, you are wanted on charges of Murder, Relentless Torture, Sadism and Excape from Asylum. Do you deny any of these charges?" The red panda through to the raccoon. The black covered mammal put his paws together and rubbed them slowly over eachother, watching his black paws over and over again before finally raising his head to the many eyes staring upon him, he replied.

"Sigh....I wouldn't really call if murder if you'd understood where I was coming from-" He was cut short unfortunatly as a black and orange striped paw came down around his throat. Tigress pulled him up to her eye level.

"You have some explainig to do." She sneered at him as he dangled by the back of his fur in her claws. He looked at her with a look of caught in the act rightousness as he was dropped to the floor before the group. Po closed the gap between him and his new student.

"hold on! What is going on here? Sincato whats all this about?" He asked pointing a strong stubby finger at the raccoon. Shifu stared down at the newcomer as he stood alone under what seemed to be a single beam of light coming out of the roof of the training hall. Snapping his fingers suddenly, the raccoon found himself instantly chained and held back by four guards before he could blink. Sincato Stared back at the panda known as the dragon warrior in a slightly broken/hurt expression. The panda tilted his head as he could only watch as the raccoon was ushered out of the room and down to one of the underground holding facilities. The shocked five and the dragon warrior turned their heads to their master in awaiting an answer to all of this. Shifu looked up into his students eyes before handling over the piece parchment he'd been handed by the messanger goose and allowed his students to make their own conclusions. What was inpmrtant now was that the convict could no longer run free. He would be returned to the Hyranda Village aslylum to rot soon enough.

Shifu found himself as slight ease knowing they had just found and captured a known felon. Know he'd rembered why Sincato's name had been in his head once before. Sincato, very much like the name Tai Lung, had become widespread news in a mere few weeks during a tragic and horrific event in Hyranda several years back. Though it had not spread to the valley of peace. Oogway had spoken the masked one's name before as he announced the current events of the villages of china in his visits. The story went along the lines of the village guards arrived at the raccoon's home and found a terrible sight before them. Three bodies lay out in the backyard, a mother and a son, the body of a boar. Finally the guards found their gazes falling onto the silloutte of Sincato himself. Covered from the top of his mask to the bottem of his robes in thick dark crimson blood, the raccoon sat on his knees crying and shaking terribly. He looked up to the guards, who, say the ringtailed blacksmith carried a look in his eyes that was unlike anything they'd ever seen in him. Not taking any chances, they detained the raccoon on the scene and later attempted to get an attempt at a confession out of him. His only reply to any of their answers remained,

"_they will see, what cannot, what must never be done, they will see what happens, oh they will see what happens." _The raccoon murmured to himself as he sat in a corner and buried his head in his knees. Oogway had visited this man before, he'd seen with his own eyes that the man was unproper with himself. It was as if something didn't fit, something in the raccoons head was out of place. Shifu opened his eyes and looked back at his students as he headed out of the training room, how could of someone like that have ended up here, was his only pestering thought as he dismissed himself from the room.

Sincato had been stripped of his vest of blades as he was thrown into a steel cell, after some arguing they gave him back his black hooded robe atleast. The raccoon did up his robe and pulled his hood over his head as he sat down on the bunk that sat along the back wall. He pulled his tail from behind him and laid it gently along his lap as he sat indian style on the cold thin matted bed. The cell itself was somwhat spacious, a small desk on the side wall, a small mirror beside it for cleaning up, a bucket next to the bed for personal buisness

"_how cleanely"_

The guards who'd brought him here stood watch for an hour or two before being summoned over to the end of the hall by someone. For a moment Sincato sat in darkness, silence and the cold before he noticed a glowing light comming back down his way. As the footsteps grew larger he soon recognized the slithering sound along the floor and the large thumps of panda feet. Viper and Master Po arrived at his cell and looked at him as he stared out at both of them, eyeing them closely as if attempting to read their minds.

"What may I ask is the reason for your visit?"

Viper was the first to speak up. "What happened? Thats why Po and I are here talking to you, well Po actually, he wanted to see you as soon as possible." The raccoon turned his head to the side as he kept his eyes on the two before him outside the cold steel bars of his cell.

"You want to know what really happened do you?" He posed the question as if it beheld some distinct cherisable value to it that the other two were unaware of. The raccoon sighed and motioned for them to sit down. He waited till they stopped moving before he began his recollection of past events.

"Sigh, I as your master was aware of am father to one son, husband to one wife. I worked as a blacksmith in my village, fashioning locks and other utensils as my craft, whatever would put money on the table so the ones I cared about could always eat, whether that ment I missed a meal or two, I wasn't to complain, I had everything I wanted in my life." He said with slight ease, showing relaxed emotion at first until he continued on.

"There was a problem with the village however, security hadn't found a true way of keeping bandits and monsters out of our homes, this lead to a group of Boars one night, finding my home. They'd caught me and dragged myself to their leader who made the arrangement that I would pay him a cetain amount every week as to keep my family frrom harm. I didn't think he would really do anything to them you know? You can never really tell what someone's truly like until they show you." He shuddered at the mention of this, like it had triggered some offset small reaction inside him. Shaking his head once, he looked back into viper and po's faces as he went on.

"About...four months into the deal...I couldn't make ends meet anymore, my boss couldn't give me a raise, we barely had any buisness as it was anyhow and soon I began to...miss payments. " The raccoon's head fell slightly to the side as he spoke. " I went to meet with the leader I'd spoken with to try and arrange an alternative. I couldn't find anyone....not a single one...in the whole complex." Sincato's eyes widened in revert to detailed memories. "I 'd soon picked up on why the place was empty. I raced out and back to my home when I could hear faint yells in the distance and I saw smoke from a fire just behind the hill I came up on. I ran so fast, god I thought I would die from lack of breath." He hesitated again as he looked down at his paws in his lap as they clenched eachother tightly. Viper looked up at the bear who wore a face of worry and sadness as he soon put the pieces together and saw where this was going.

"I came over the hill, and...I saw them.

_God make this stop_

"I saw my little baby boy, broken and unfixable. He laid there, I couldn't accept, what they'd done to him."

_Flashback_

_Sincato ran to his son, shock hitting him like bolt of lighting. Kneeling at his side he picked his boy up and held him close to his chest. Wiping some of the blood away from the little one's face, he stared into the now glazed over and blank eyes of his son, his face emotionless. Holding him tightly as he wept, the father nuzzled the boy's face, as if trying to bring life back through motion. It proved to not be enough as his only child's body remained silent and without a single remainder of life inside itself. _

_This can't happen, no please stop no!!!_

The raccoon leaned back from the position he'd sat in previously, jolting back into the wall behind him, panting hard as the full brunt of the terribly clear vison flew into his eyes.

_You don't need to do this, they can figure out the rest just STOP ALREADY_

He refused to listen to the voice inside his head though as he kept on with what needed to be heard.

" Laying not more than a few feet from him, my...my w-wife." Taking one of his black paws he began trying to dab away the hot streams of tears coming down his face. Physically shaking as the pain breezed through his soul.

"God, I loved her, I loved her soo much, We' been together since we were kids...I rolled her over and I couldn't stand anymore. I crumpled down to my knees next to her and my loving son and couldn't- I couldn't take this. It was too much for myself to bear...losing your family is the end." Po and Viper entered the cell as he fell deeper into his tragedy, not noticing their entrance. " Sniff, I then heard, a noise behind my shed for my job...

_Flashback-_

_Sincato's eyes jerked from his wife and child as his attention flew to the shed a few feet away from him. A survivor of this? Hearing a stifled grunt the raccoon's ears lowered and his eyes closed shut as the familar sound gave away the species of the hidden one. _

thats when I prayed. I prayed to any higher power above listening to my soul that I needed a favor, for if it was not possible to bring my family back...give me the strength to do what had to be done next. I got up from my child and my wife... made my way over to the back of the shed, I picked up a hatchet and waite around the corner for them...and then I made my move." The panda and viper grew extremely uncomfortable as the masked one continued telling his tale in unfortunatly great detail.

_Steathily slipping along the side of the shed, hatchet in paw, Sincato soon found himself feeling...reborn. A new kind of soul entering his body, one that carried a bloodlust. Sincato watched as his vison blurred into crimson. He saw one of the boars gathering equipment, tools and such from the blacksmith's workshop, running as fast as he could, Sincato slammed into the boar, knocking him to the ground off his feet. The rage inside the raccoon forced the hatchet up into the air and brougt it down with animalistic ferocity. The ringtailed creature had no control in the next actions as the soul took its grasp upon him and controlled his motions. Hacking both of the pig's legs off, he listened with sickening facination as the boar squealed and screamed its lungs out as the raccoon conituned to work his way up the pig's body, attempting not to hit any vital organs as to not end the fun anytime soon. It pleaded through its own breaks of agony to stop this, that was something which triggered a new sensation in the raccoon. Slamming the hatchet down into the arm of the pig, he kneeled down close and dug his bite into the fleshy mass of muscle and fur the pig had and ripped a piece out and devoured it. The boar's eyes looked as though they woulld burst from his skull as he could only watch his body being torn shred by shred and then chewed and swallowed by the crazed animal upon him._

Po and the serpent master stared in sickening shock from the terrible accurate telling the raccoon forced them to hear. The panda stopping him for a moment to ask of a question that paine his mind.

"You...you really...a-ate him?" Sincato only stared at him, his eyes never breaking focus, his muzzle lifting to reveal his upper canines and sharp small teeth as he sowly dragged his toungue along them.

"Its understandable that you would never expect something like a person you see everyday to have an actual appealing taste to them, but you'd be suprised." He said flately before going back into the story.

_After what felt like hours past by, Sincato was wrenched off the body of the pig and thrown into restraints. Sincato, still stuck in his thirst for blood, gnashed out at the guard holding him and dug his teeth into his forearm, sending the wolf into a scream and swung the arm madly to get the jaws off his muscle as he felt it tearing through as the raccoon vigourously yanked his head back and to the side, tearing fur, flesh and muscle out of the gaurds arm. A black bag was thrown on his head and then darkness fell upon him in more ways than one. The other gaurd struck the raccoon in the back of the head with a club to stop him. It worked, sending the crazed ringtailed blacksmith down to the ground, shackled and bagged like the common criminal. He was loaded onto a wagon and sent into the courts of the village, a prison cell to hold him until he was able to be interrogated. They walked him in and dropped his unconcious body on the floor, his fur soaked deeply in blood from his hands to to his muzzle and down his throat and chest. A few hours later he awoke after having a large bucket of water dunked on him through the bars of his cell by one of the sergents of the courts. Sincato shook his head slowly, daze and unfocused as he tried to stand before collapsing to the floor on his face._

_"Where am...I?" He asked, drippng in water and rinsing blood off his fur coat. He looked at the guard who stared at him as if he had slaughtered a nurseryschool of children._

_"You are in the high courts containment cell awaiting the charges you face for the crimes you have commited." The wolf said in a monotone voice, he had to remind a great many people of this reason as they would wake up in the cell, with little to no recollection of what happened previously before their arrival here. Sincato's mind flashed quickly to the events of recent, the things that had happened, the one's he'd lost, the actions he'd taken. He could remember a great deal of them but the main problem was that he didn't feel as though he'd fully been there as the crimes assigned his presence at the area of the incidents that brought him here. He ran his now clean paws over his black masked face as he pace the cell slowly, trying ot put everything together, all that had happened, all that was about to happen. _

Four weeks later

_Sitting at the desk in his 9-10 cell, the raccoon watched other prisoners go by in the Aslyum. He'd been deemed insane by the high council of justice of Hyranda valley, after trying to plead his case and found with so much evidence put against him, Sincato had found that he would never win this battle and when one of the members had come to him and sugeste he accept the insainty charge he'd been painted as. The case was settled and he was put alongside the general population of Kornako Asylum. His stay there had shown and taught him many things. The gaurds in this area were always so busy and low staffed because of other inmates setting traps for the guards. He had been set on the lowest floor which happened to be the least watched, thinking the prisoner in order to break out would have to come up the main passage in order to excape. Sincato had found different. He waited until there was another riot that called upon the majority of the guards to handle the situation before he made his move. As he grabbed his things and made way to his excape hatch he'd formed, hiding it by sliding a large slab of rock infront of it to appear as it it were the mere side of a boulder in the wall, he stopped as a small but familiar voiced chanted in his head. _

_"Not yet, you haven't done what must be yet."_

_Sincato looked at the inmate sleeping away in the cell across from him. The prisoner was a leapord who'd done unspeakable things to children all along the coast of southern china. He'd been sentenced to 150 years for the crimes he'd plead out to. Sincato despised this man, he had been constantly brarated by the story telling of this fiend about his "adventures" he took such pride in and who was always willing to go into the darkest deepest description of what he' done to the little ones. _

_"Just how a I supposed to do that? I've made my excape route, I can't get out the regular way." He told the voice that he carried inside his head. It responded in a snarling tone_

_"YOU WILL DO THIS! I am here to guide you, to do what you cannot, you are not to blame though you may feel that way, don't worry." The raccoon looked up at the prison gate as it slowly began to shake and wiggle wildly on its hinges. He could only stare as the door threw itselff off the side hinges and fell against the wall perpendicular to it. The masked one stared on to the leapord as he felt something in him change again, his vison fading to crimson, the body of the prisoner leapord shown with a splattering x upon its body as a symbol to the raccoon of execution. Feeling the soul take hold of his own, he blindly sent it forward toward its unknowing prey, advancing toward it one sinister step at a time._

End of flashback-

"The gaurds would come to find the leapord's head bashed in by a fallen pipe off my cell door. This was when I knew, I couldn't fight this on my own Po, Taking another life, and this time not being able to stop it by myself and keep from letting my views of this leapord trigger the one that thrives inside me, that feeds off of the hatred and the dwellings of vengence that passed through my mind. I had to find true help in the way of a pure and untaintable heart, the one that can bring true peace to ones self, the dragon warrior." Putting his face into his paws again leaning forward, the raccoon pushed out a strong breath as he ended his tale of how he'd come to be in the jade palace. Po looked at Viper for a moment before looking back at the ringtailed black dressed one before him.

"I...Sincato, I'll be back in a while. All that you've put out to me in this short amount of time, I need a few moments to gather myself and find a direction to approach this from."He said, walking up to the raccoon and and putting a heavy black paw upon his shoulder. Sincato nodded and stared down at the floor again as the bear left the room. Viper slithered next to the black robed mammal,

"Sin, If I were you, now would be the best time to try and get some sleep. You can trust Po to come back with a way to help you out of this." She said, lifting the raccoon's face up gently with the tip of her tail so their eyes could meet. He was still shaking slightly from having to recollect this tragic memory, he took his left paw and softly ran his fingers down her tip of her tail.

"Thank you Master Viper. What I've put on you both was probobly more than you truly expected, I thank you for hearing it though, it means a great deal to myself." She could read the pain and gratitude in both his facial expressions and his sore voice. She smiled a small grin of understanding before beginning to leave. She sensed there was more on the masked one's mind than he'd spoken of. She'd just gotten to the door when, faintly, he called out to her.

"Master Viper? I have something of a request I wish to make to you, if you would be alright with." He said, small nervousness building up in his voice. She looked back at him and slithered forward.

"Yes?"

"I...I Um...*sigh* If one were to ask, is there any way I could have you watch over me this night?" Its just I'm so very tired of not being able to fall asleep in a place such as this. All the time I was in Korkano, I laid there restless, unable to block out the true horror of what that place held, expecially the evil it expelled in the night. Would you be willing to stay with me for this one night, just to let me finally rest in peace ..so to speak." Viper looked at him for a moment, her head tilted to the side and the tip of her tail drawing a circle on the floor as she thought.

" Well, you haven't posed yourself as a threat as of yet while you've been here. From what's just been found though Shifu would more then likely say no to this, you would have to be in restraints at least." Sincato nodded,

"If it means you would be here, you can put whatever you feel is a safe amount of shackles on me." He said, in an honest/slight pleading fashion. Viper ran her tail over her head in anticipation of what out come could truly happen in this situation. On one hand, she was very disturbed by the actions of the creature before her, but on the other, she could see the pain he carried in his heart, the loss he could never let go of. The serpent took a look at the ringtail blacksmith and then slithered to the door, requesting an order of shackels brought to sincato's cell. THe raccoon's eyes light up a great amount as the wolf entered and applied the metal braces upon his form as he laid out on his back on the bunk of the bed. He hands, both chained to each bedpost, tight enough to not dig into his skin but enough to get the point across. He lay on his back and waited as Viper went to tell Po what the plans were for the evening.

An hour went by and the masked one laid in anticipation of Viper's promise. He could only turn his head very slightly, but his large ears managed to pick up the sliding of the snake's body against the stones of the prison floor. She entered his cell and coiled up and sprang onto his bed alongside him before sliding and forming a coil on his abdoman. Smiling, Sincato motions with his right hand to the right pocket of his robe. Viper dug into it and removed a piece of canvas. Inspecting it, she saw a beautiful raccoon wife, upon her lap, a small but happy looking young boy raccoon. They were sitting in what looked to be a small living room, on a large green sofa chair. Several paintings and pictures hung behind them on the light blue painted walls. Sincato felt a small tear form in his right eye as he spoke.

"A great friend of mine, one I'd known growing up was a real artist and had the best eye for detail. He painted that portrait of my wife and son at our house several years back. He never even accepted payment for his work of art he'd done for me. I've always carried this picture with me, I never stop looking at it, one day we'll all be together again." He said, his voice positive but trembling a bit. Viper looked deep into the picture and back to Sincato.

"Theyr'e beautiful, I can see why they meant so very much to you." she said, the raccoon agreed as he swallowed a lump that continued to build in his throat. She looked back at him as she tucked the picture back into his robe. She saw the buildup of tears in his eyes and softly flicked them away with her tail.

"Hey, Im here, you're gonna be okay. Everything is gonna work out okay." Sincato smiled back at the master's gentle gaze as he laid his head to rest on the pillow behind him, Viper coiling tightly before resting her head on his chest as the lights from the candles faded out slowly before only the mere sillouttes of eachother could be seen.

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A/N, Holy cow I haven't written this much in a while! I really wish I could get some feedback from you all, I wanna know what ya think about this so far, if theres any ideas to be used, now is the time to speak up and be heard.


	6. A hero's journey begins

A/N, Greetings readers, this is another update to my Sincato story. Sorry to all who've been waiting for the next chapter, I've been busy with other projects and such

Disclaimer: I own no one but the leading OC.

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Sincato awoke to finding all furious five and the dragon warrior staring at him as he lay in shackles on his bed. Shifu stood before all of them and stepped forward to address the raccoon.

"Po has been kind enough to inform me of the entire details of your...situation." He said, seeming to glare at the very last word spoken. He himself believed the acts said to have been commited by the one before them was only possibly by someone unworthy of the furious five and the dragon warrior's ears. Sincato looked into the eyes of all the members of th five, finally resting his on Po's, who looked down at him with a shot of positivity. Sincato looked back at the red panda master, flexing his fingers that still laid shackled over his head.

"So where exactly do we go from here?" He asked, not really able to decipher the red panda's face. He knew there was a grave chance he would end up back in the Asylum, he belived Po would do what he could, but in the end, he knew there were laws to be followed. The raccoon held his breath as the red panda allowed the suspense to build slightly.

"Well Sincato, I believe the best action to take is to send you straight back to where you were held before." Sincato's eyes widened, he looked to the panda to say something, who motioned with his head back to Shifu.

"*Sigh* But, The dragon warrior has a firm and holding belief that he is to help you as he has promised to you. I cannot, though I've tried, change his feelings on this so I've decided on an assignment to test your supposed goodwill and abilities to cleanse yourself. The job is as a security measure for a family traveling over the mountain range, they will be entering and departing through known bandit sites. It will be you, master Tigress and Po to make sure this family leaves and returns safe. What do you think about that?"

"I say..thank you...Master Po for sticking to your word. I accept the mission." With that Shifu and the masters cleared out, leaving the raccoon lying on his bed. He looked back up at his wrists.

_are they really not going to unlock these blasted things?_

_several hours later_

Po returned to the raccoon's dwelling with keys in paw. Sincato sighed a breath of relief as he felt the locks undone and the chains released from his body. Po gave a small smile as he and the ringtail walked out of the holding cell.

Sincato packed a small bag of supplies, he knew the journey wouldn't be less than a few days so he needed to think long haul. Getting his things together, he waited patiently out in the main hall for the five and the dragon warrior to meet him. Letting his eyes drift around the room, he found himself feeling...tight. His breaths began getting sharper and a sense of imbalance was hitting him.

_Gods what was it doing to him now?_

Sincato could only find himself on the floor suddenly as he could no longer stand. Holding his head he shut his eyes tightly as the screams of those he'd hurt echoed through his skull. His grey fur shivered and shook through his mental relapse. A few minutes later he was able to stand once again and watched as the Five and Po and Shifu entered. He straighted up slightly and eyed them as they headed for the doors of the palace and down the steps.

They ventured through the village until stopping at a home that was actually familar for Sincato. He stood and raised an eyebrow staring at the members of the protectors of the valley who stopped outside the house. A curtain fluttered in the window and soon enough a door opened wide and a little rabbit came running out straight at Sincato.

Tigress found herself unconciously bracing for the raccoon to do something to the rabbit, but could only stare as the bunny leapt into the arms of Sincato.

The raccoon couldn't help himself but smile slightly as he held the child. Her outgoing nature was one of his son's trademark qualites, it was a good feeling to say the least to momentarily relive it. Setting her down he dusted himself off and straightened up to face the confused faces before him. digging with one of his feet, the ringtail looked in the direction of the mother rabbit. She walked up to him almost as if running into an old friend and warmly wrapped an arm around him in a small embrace. The father stood in the doorway, pipe in mouth and a friendly smile on his face.

"Ah Sincato, so good to see you again!" Shifu's eye's were wider than the saucer's Po used to cook with. He could only stare as the raccoon smiled back and then finally returned his eyes to the master, then realizing the look of stunned suprise on his face. Turning back to the mother rabbit, he asked a favor.

"Ahem, um perhaps you wouldn't mind informing the five and Dragon Warrior of how you've come to know me?"

"Oh of course, well why haven't you told them? I'm sure even the gaurdians of this valley would be proud to hear about your rescue misson!" She said brightly, the raccoon let his eyes roll slightly in modesty.

"Yes I think they've found out plenty more of myself, didn't really feel the need to um...tell stories as it were." He said, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat uneasily. Viper and Monkey cocked their heads at this, Tigress maintained a firm look at the ringtail. Po's eyebrows raised in anticpation of a heroic tale while Shifu and Mantis eyes narrowed.

The mother rabbit ushered them all into their small home and began to work on some treats for her guests as she started off Sincato's entrance to the village. The daughter rabbit gave a, to Sincato's dismay, well detailed recollection of the evening event as it were, dramatizing every move Sincato had taken as he save her. Finishing the story, She smiled brightly to the five and the dragon warrior before leaping into the raccoon's lap, a slight jump as she landed on him followed by a deep groan of stiffled pain from the ringtail. Shifu drummed his fingers as he took the tale in and looked at Sincato with a small frown. Po secretly had wished the story had been longer, it was always such a thrill for him to listen to tales of heroic actions, while Tigress, Monkey and Viper glanced back and forth from the rabbit child to the raccoon, the tiniest of a smile could be found on Viper's face, She was always able to enjoy children, how entertaining they were to her.

Having finished the small treats they were given, the furious five and dragon warrior lead the way out of the village, Shifu, Monkey, Viper and Mantis stopped at the gates.

"This is where we leave you Dragon warrior and Tigress, you two will lead the family through the mountain range, Viper, Monkey, Mantis and I will remain here in the valley." He said giving Po a small pat on the back for reasurrance. Po and Tigress nodded and bowed to their teacher before turning forward and exiting the front gates of the valley of peace, followed by Sincato and the rabbits.

Viper watche them leave, noticing the ringtail stop and look back at her. She smiled and waved with the tip of her tail before slithering off to catch up with her master and the others. Sincato watched her leave, finding himself a bit saddened she would not be accompanying them on their journey. While he wasn't truly worried about whether they would have a run in with anyone, he did wish he could get to know a bit more of the serpent master, perhaps Po or Tigress would grace him with some back history of her. Taking a glance to see Hu Shim running to lead the way out of excitment of all who strode next to her, he chuckled at her amusement with the two leading members of the five, constantly turning and walking backwards to ask Tigress or Po a question. He followed along at the back behind the Mother and Father Shim as to make sure noone was left behind. He sighed as he noticed a certain snowy mountain range up ahead he knew they would be coming through, he prayed silently that they would make it through all of this without incident, to be able to complete his mission and return to the Dragon Warrior's treatment to fix him was all he asked.

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A/N, Again sorry to all who've waited patiently. I've hard terrible writer's block and meanwhile began working on my POM (penguins of madagascar) stories as well. Thank you all for waiting and I hope to put another chapter up soon.


	7. Room for two?

A/N, Hey I am back into this story, again apologies to all my viewers about not updating, but in the same sense, this is why reviewing and communicating with the author is very important, if I'm not getting any feedback then sometimes I cant really figure out my next move haha! Anyway, enough of my complaining, this chapter will mostly be Tigress and Po related.

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Evening was setting in as the group made their way up the mountain pass. They'd been traveling for the better part of eight hours straight, and beginning to feel its effects. Po began finding himself getting winded as they accended up the hills, attempting to keep it to himself , but as they continued their journey, his breathing began to get heavier and heavier till he made a stop, letting the rest of the group take a break as well. Sincato secretly thanked the gods, how a panda had as much endurance as Po did, he would never know, apparently becoming the Dragon Warrior and having the special training has its perks.

Po, " *sigh, deep breath* Ahem, well, not to slow everyone down but I need to sit for a minute if thats alright." Tigress nodded as she looked back toward the Shim family. She could tell Yu's little feet were beginning to hurt, the mother and father could also use a long relaxing break as well. She then looked over at Sincato who straightened up and breathed deeply, meeting her gaze and then blowing out a puff of air.

Tigress, "Its getting dark, if we're taking a break here, we may as well set up camp for the evening. Po, you and Sincato grab some firewood and make a fire." Po looked at her pleadingly,

"You just have to send me into the dark scary woods don't you?" He said, using his sarcastic tone to mask the fear in his voice. Tigress raised her eyebrow at the panda.

"Really? The almighty Dragon Warrior is scared of the woods, if you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of a forest, you don't have to go on a five day quest or anything, just find whatever dry wood there is nearby, besides, you're loyal student wouldn't let you get into anything you couldn't handle, would you" She asked in a questionable/interrorgation tone as she locked eyes with the raccoon. He looked at her and then Po and the back to her.

"um...no?" He said, somewhat uncomfortably, the feline seemed to carry the ability to send the raccoon shrinking down a size or two, making him feel about Yu's hieght.

"Good, then go on and I'm going to set up our bedding and help the villagers." She said, her paws on her hips, looking at both of them, if anything waiting for them to move first.

Po motioned for Sincato to follow him and they walked a few feet into the brush and began breaking sticks and gathering them up. Po turned to Sincato and handed him a satchel. Sincato took it as Po put a finger to his lips to signify not to say anything. Opening the satchel, Sincato saw his knife vest and tools he had been stripped of.

"By the time master Shifu realizes this is gone, I'm kind of banking on the hopes that he understands why. I know because of what you've done, I shouldn't really give this to you, but honestly, back at the training hall when you were all like, HI YAH!" He said making a strong throwing motion in the air to nothing in particular.

"I think you can keep these without causing...err...problems lets say. But you have to promise me something." He said, Sincato smiled and replied to the panda.

"Anything Dragon Warrior, name it." Po put his right paw on the raccoon's shoulder.

"Promise me you'll teach me to throw knives like that!" He whispered in the ear of the raccoon excitedly. Sincato let out a hearty laugh and smiled at his mentor.

"I think that can be arranged." He said, drawing out a long serrated blade from the back of the vest and looking at his reflection in the middle of the knife. This knife he mostly used as a saw when dealing with woodworking when he wasn't into a metallic project. Going over to a fairly grown pine tree( think christmas tree), he began sawing off the bottom of it till finally it came to the ground with a soft rustling of its branches. Po picked up the tree in one hand and Sincato gathered the mound of sticks the panda had collected as they headed back to camp. Sincato slipped the vest into the bag again not before putting the saw back inside the back sleeve.

Tigress and the Shim family laid out their blankets and pillows as they sat down and waited for Po to start the fire. Striking two rocks together, the panda began getting sparks for a moment till the dryest of the grass they'd set on it caught and smoke began drifting upwards. The rabbit mother gave it a small fanning and watched the fire grow and become big enough to cook upon. Po setup a pan and poured water into it from a canteen, listening to the water boil as he began digging through his bag for more ingredients. Tigress watched him pull out spices, noodles and vegatables, suprised to see how much he'd really packed into one sack.

"I hope you left enough for Master Shifu and the others to survvive on while we're away, from the looks of it all your missing is the kitchen cubboards and sink." Po smirked back at her smart remark, priding himself actually having not forgotten anything.

"Well as a matter of fact, I believe their having dinner with my father right now at his shop." Po said, Tigress rolled her eyes, of course why not just send them to his father's shop? Po went back to pouring in the ingrediants, Sincato helped stir as the noodles were put in, about twenty minutes later dinner was served. Po pulled out bowls wrapped in cloth he'd brought for everyone and handed them out, then taking the big spoon and scooping out a good amount for each one.

The rabbits smiled warmly as they took in Po's soup, the father laid his bowl down before speaking.

"Ah, You're definetly the son of Ping, Dragon Warrior, mm this truly hits the spot well!" He complemented, the panda smiled and nodded to the father, looking over at Tigress he caught her munching quiet happily on the veggies, suddenly realizing there were eyes upon her. She wiped her mouth with the cloth before narrowing her eyes at Po who couldn't help but chuckle at catching Tigress enjoying his soup. After they'd all had their fill for the evening, the rabbits settled into their beds and snuggled in with one another, Yu right between the two of them. Po sat down on his mattress roll and blanket, giving a large stretch and cracking his neck, he was just about to conk out for the night when he noticed Sincato sitting on a rock staring at the fire. He could see, while the raccoon had his robes tightly buttoned, face cloth over the bridge of his nose and hood drawn over him, the raccoon shivered as he stared into the jumping flames. Po got up and walked next to the ringtail,

"Hey buddy, looks like your out of a bed huh?" Sincato's eyes broke from the flames and met the panda's.

"Oh its fine, I'll be okay." He said, hoping the panda would go to sleep and forget about it. But Po, the most hearty of the valley, without warning, picked Sincato up under his arms and set him on the panda's bed. Sincato, knowing there was not arguing about it at this point, looked up at Po and pullled off his hood and facemask before bowing to the Dragon Warrior in appreciation. Po smiled and sat next to the fire as he watched his student get wrapped up in the blanket and laid down to fall asleep. Po took the raccoon's place and watched the fire for a moment before he heard a loud agrravated sigh through Tigress's curled lips. He looked over at her with a raised eyebrow, unsure what was bothering the tiger master.

"I suppose you think just because you gave up your bed you're suddenly sneaking into mine now?" She said with striped arms across her red vest, Po gave an innocent face while repliying,

"Um...nooo?" She glared at him for a moment before sliding over to one side of her bed she'd laid out.

"Oh for the love of the gods, get over here!" She hissed agitatedly, Po grinned and crawled over to her and snuggled in next to her. It was then, that a problem arose, the bed was a bit too small for the both of them. Po tried not to make any mention of it until his female teammate noticed only half of him was actually on the mattress. Tigress sat up and looked around, finding everyone was asleep, she turned to the panda.

"*sigh* Po get in the middle of the mat." She said, he eyed her questionably before she viciously pointed for him to move over. He scooted himself all the way onto the mattress before the feline master shocked him by straddling a leg over the panda. Doing this she raised a clawed paw with intense orange eyes,

"Not a word do you understand?" He nodded. Laying herself out evenly along the bear's body. Po's face was stunned as he watched the cat settle herself ontop of the panda, before dragging the blanket over both of them. She crossed her paws and laid her head on them, staring right into Po's eyes from atop his chest. He found it near impossible to wipe the shock from his face, Tigress drew her ears back.

"What? You have any better suggestions?" She asked, Po shook his head slowly, watching the feline take a finger out and prode his stomach and then chuckled slightly,

"Hmh, its like laying on Master Oogway's watercushion he had in his bedroom." The tiger said, Po smiled smally and rolled his eyes.

"Hey I've lost a bit of weight, come on." She smirked at him lightly and poked his stomach again and looked back at him with a very unconvinced look on her face.

"Aye that tickles, stop it!" He whispered to her.

"I don't know, really its kind of entertaining." She said as she laid her head on her left arm, tracing small lines into the panda's fur with her right.

"Well I'm glad I could be your fun festival for the evening." He said humorously, she let out amused breath of air through her nose. She scooted her body up further, bringing her head closer to Po's.

The Dragon Warrior twitched his nose as her whiskers tickled his face, he brushed them gently away before taking his paw and gently running it over her forehead and against her white cheek fur. She would never admit it at any other time, but at the moment, as the fire gently burned behind the two of them, she enjoyed being this close to the panda. He continued to carress her head softly as she looked at him, her eyes starting to feel heavier and heavier. Right before she nodded off, she dug a claw lightly into the bear's side.

"Don't expect this to become a regular thing panda. Come sunrise, this never happened." She whispered to him, Po looked at her in understanding.

"Then I will enjoy this while it lasts." He breathed, looking back into her eyes but finding them shut softly, her head nuzzled into her forearm and gentle breaths blowing across his black fur. Po couldn't help but take one last look at her beautiful striped face as he drifted into sleep, feeling her tail twitch in her unconciousness around his feet.

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A/N, Here is chapter seven in my saga, I mentioned before this would be mostly Tigress an Po and well look what happened haha! Please give me some feedback, anything you liked or didn't like I will enjoy hearing from you all, thank you and have a nice one!


	8. Watch out

A/N, Greetings readers, this story has me energized once again, I know I shouldn't of let this story sit for so long without updates so now that I have the time, they are coming faster than I anticipated. In recollection to the last chapter, I didn't want to go too far with the Tigress and Po thing but I wanted to show that issue of not only trust but mild compassion for one another from everything they've been through in the valley. It may get more intense later through, I just need to figure out what feels right.

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Wind from the far east moutaintop blew into the campsite of the sleeping travelers. Sincato cracked an eye open from his warm and snug cover and peeked out around the campsite. As he looked to see that everything was normal, his eyes came upon a sight he swore that told him he was dreaming. There, in master Tigress's bed, lay the dragon warrior Po, taking up the entire thing, leaving master Tigress, using the panda as a giant pillow. He bit his lip to cover a small chuckle that was dying to come out, when another noise directed his attention elsewhere. A rustling of leaves from outside the campsite, giving a quick check, everyone was still in their beds...so that could only mean...

Sincato leapted silently out of bed and ran toward the sound that taunted him. Accending a tree, he slipped out of sight and watched for outside movement. His glossy green eyes scanning the forest floor, finally coming upon in the distance, a small group of,

_Wolves..._

Sliding down the tree quickly he ran to Tigress and Po's sleeping forms. He tapped the feline master on the shoulder while giving a light foot bump to the dragon warrior. Tigress instantly awoke an made a move to hit the raccoon before he threw up his paws and put a finger to his lips and pointed frantically toward the bushes southeast of them. Tigress leapt to her feet, using both paws to pull the panda to his feet. Po stood silently dazed and unfocused as Sincato ushered them both to the treeline to have a look for themselves.

Tigress, "Wolf bandits, Po get to the other side and be prepared to move on my mark okay?" Po shook his head to focus and nodded, running silently over to the largest tree to hide himself. The wolves got in closer, unaware of anything in their path so far, one appeared to already be somewhat drunk based on his imbalance on how he walked, his friend having to pull him from falling every few yards. Tigress glared at them with her deep orange eyes, plotting exactly what manuever would be best for these menaces. Cracking her knuckles and neck, she leaned tight against the tree as they apporached closer and closer. Po stared at the tree where Tigress stood, waiting for some kind of sign that could let him go at the theives and kick some butt. Sincato sat out of sight atop high tree branches watching every move of the bandits, hoping they would walk right underneath him, allowing him to get the drop on them, literally.

The leader of the pack stopped and held of a paw for the group to stop as well. He looked around curiously, he could sense something was ahead, something in the forest. Signaling his men to arm themselves, the wolves unsheathed their swords and spears. Hungry looks filled the eyes of the pack as they sensed a hunt about to commence. Tigress looked back at Po and then to the wolves, hoping somewhat the pack of bandits would change direction, it was one thing to fight bandits, but it was another when you are gaurding people as well. Looking to her left and then to her right, where the hell was that raccoon?

The ringtail, crouched in his perch, focused in on the leader of the pack, He knew this wolf, not that he was pleased about it though. During the raccoon's time as paying debt to the wild pigs, he'd walked in on a few confrontations between the boar's head and this canine.

_You must leave him untouched. _a familar dark voice rang into his head. In a way...the voice was right, that wolf could be a possible connection to finding the boar clan again, finding the ones responsible for his family's murder. Sincato breathed deep as he dug his claws into the treebranch, his mind filling with ideas of what exactly to do with these canines. He watched the group march onward, closing in on the campsite, on the sleeping rabbits, unaware that they were in very deep oncoming trouble. As they crossed the apparent threshold, the raccoon saw Tigress throw Po a hand gesture and then sweepkick her way into the wolves. Po jumped in right alongside her, sending unprepared wolves into the air with belly blasts and dragonbite punches to the abdoman of the dogs. The leader, caught by suprise began to duck and leap over each of his own getting attacked, dodging and running from the high flying fists of fury that swang his way.

Po sent three of the spear wielding dogs into one another as they charged him only to find the panda roll to the side and catch them with a strong slamming fist to the chest. He continually mocked the wolfs as they jabbed at him with their spears, allowing him to grab onto one and swing it hard, smacking each untop the head with the staff, crushing the skull of the first impacted.

Sincato, as Tigress turned on one wolf to suckerpunch another her fist demolishing the face of her opponent, leapt from the tree branch and soared into the air to land on the wolf about to strike the feline with her back turned. He slammed into the wild dog's neck with two of his knives, sending the wolf crashing to the ground, dead on impact. Tigress turned to him, seeing the raccoon, hood drawn blades in hand and a somewhat dark wild look in his eyes as he ran toward another, reached up and stabbed him in the thigh. The wolf howled in pain as he grabbed his leg, only to find the raccoon coming in to slash his throat with the left paw. The last image the dog soldier had was the crimson dribbling out his neck as he grasp it with a paw only to find himself draining of life in mere secounds. Po as he ducked and weaved through the swings of the wolves, watched in both horrified attention and built up energy as the raccoon raced though the wolves, leaping up onto the shoulder of one and stabbing it in the face twice before jumping in the air and landing on the back of another, slitting the back of its neck, paralyzing it and sending it to the dirt floor.

The leader of the pack snuck around the side and set his eyes upon the rabbits, now awake from the screaming and colliding sounds, the father with his arms around his wife and child and he looked up and saw the lead wolf staring directly at him. The rabbit held his family tight and closed his eyes as the wolf began running at them full speed, its eyes gleaming with morbid anticipation of tearing the bunnies to shreds.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sincato saw the oncoming dog toward the rabbits. Crimson red took over his sight as he gave way to the force inside him, allowing it control to protect them. The raccoon grabbed for a blade, flipped it into the air to spin once before throwing it as hard as he could at the charging wolf. The dog ran at breakneck speed until a sharp peice of metal caught his forearm and pinned him into a tree, stopping him mere feet from the family.

The wolf cried out and yanked at his paw, the blade had sunk deep enough into his paw that only the handle protruded from above its padded digits. He turned and saw a black, silver lined shadow racing towards him, the terrifying image send the canine into a crazed desperation to free himself but it came too late. Sincato ran upon the dog and swiped and slashed at him. Screaming at the top of his lungs,

"YOU WILL NOT HURT THEM! YOU WILL NOT HARM THEM! FOR THIS YOU WILL DIE!!" His voice unrecognizable, as if the ringtail had several thousand deep screaming souls within his throat. He drove the sharp blades into the dog's ribcage and stomach relentlessly and repeatedly as he rolled with the dog on the ground. As the canine twisted himself to be free of Sincato vicous blows with the knives, a sickening crack of his paw broke the wolf's arm. Its face insane with both agony and insanity as it attempted to hit the raccoon, bite him or get him away. The beast finally became still as it fell to the ground lifeless, pools of dark red blood staining the ground around its body. Sincato fell to his knees as he heard the others racing for their very lives away from the campsite. Breathing heavily, he dropped his blood and tissue covered knives and closed his eyes tight, forcing himself to come back, to put the inner battle demon away as soon as possible.

HE cracked one eye as he heard Tigress and Po walking over to them, peeking over to the rabbits, he saw them all still holding eachother tightly. He stood up and slowly headed toward them, unarmed and calm once more. Laying a paw on the father's shoulder, he motioned for them to relaxe, they could stop hiding now. They all unraveled themselves from eachother and bowed to their three saviors. Po caught his breath and bowed back in response as did Tigress and Sincato. Po then looked to Sincato, the raccoon's black and silver lined robes glistening with large pools of blood as well as on his facemask and a few drips upon his hood. The raccoon looked back at po, all his ferocity diminished, looking over himself with somewhat shocked eyes. Po strode next to him,

"Sin, why do you look so suprised?" The raccoon didn't answer, he stood still, staring at his damp sticky black paws drenched in crimson life fluid.

"Sincato...do you even know what you just did?" Po asked, unsure if this blacksmith was even aware of where he was at the moment,

Perhaps even who he was.

Sincato bit his bottom lips as he kept still, unable to break from his astonishment. Tigress tapped Po on the shoulder and tipped her head in the direction they traveled forth as a sign to get moving again, the remaining bandits could be on the move to send for reinforcements. Po took one last look at the raccoon before grabbing the supplies and helping the rabbits with their equipment. They were packed and ready to move in less than fifteen minutes, Po led them forth, the rabbits took up the middle as they shuffled along. Tigress began to follow when she turned back and saw the ringtail still standing there. After seeing what he had been capable of, a part of her told herself to leave him, but the Oogway in her, said help him.

She walked over to him and tried to get his attention away from his paws. Sincato looked at her and then back at his bloodstained paws, shaking, shivering as he closed his eyes, he broke down, crying infront of the tiger. The master was troubled deeply by what she saw, the traveler they'd stayed with, one minute was shredding bandits to pieces, screaming maniacly and now was completly soft and broken up before her? What was the problem with this creature?

He threw his head into his paws as he cried, kneeling over in the tainted dirt next to the dead wolf. He was losing his battle with this demon, with this war spirit he'd begged for. He'd let himself loose again, infront of his mentor, infront of the family, they hadn't needed to see that, he'd wanted more than anything to keep that from them. Tigress, while a battle hardened warrior, still was able to tell when she should offer her compassion, a time very rare to see indeed. She took a knee and got low next to him and pulled the raccoon in close to her, as a mother to a cub, and gently pulled back his hood and his face cloth. His cries were more vocal now that they had ceased being muffled by the cloth over his nose. Without saying anything, she held him with one paw, gently running another over his head as he cried into her stomach.

Sincato gasped as he tried to get control of his emotions,

"gg God I'm falling apart." He managed to breath out, a strong shudder in his voice. He looked up at the master who for the first time was looking striaght at him, no anger or fire in her eyes but worry and compassion, for him? She ran her paw along under his chin and propped his head up at her, his tears dying down slightly and drying on his face.

"You'll be okay, you didn't hurt anyone you weren't suppose to, you actually saved me when you stopped the one with the spear behind me, right? Po will help you, don't give up yet, I mean it, okay?" She asked, an assertiveness and confidence in her voice. Sincato gulped and nodded, trying to et to his feet, Tigress aided him and walked him back to the group.

The dragon warrior looked back to check if everyone was present, which, looking slightly up the hill, Sincato and Tigress were still in the battleground. Upon reaching them, Sincato had gathered himself once more and was alright again. Po kept his eyes on the raccoon as he looked to everyone in the group, thinking of something to possibly break the ice he looked at the bloodstains on himself and the others,

"Hm, if its no problem with any of you guys, first river I see, I'm getting cleaned up." He said,

"Agreed." Tigress and Sincato said together. The group pressed on once more, trudging up the hills toward the freezing pass above them.

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A/N, Hey well I hope you all enjoyed this battle scene, been wanting to put Sincato back into action for a while. If you could leave some feedback for me that would be great, god i'm starting to sound like Lumburg from office space! lol have a good one people! Next chapt to be up in a few weeks!


	9. the purity of water

A/N, Well this has taken a fine few turns in the last few chapters. I feel every now and again that certain ideas should be combined while others shouldn't be. The most difficult part is finding exactly where to draw the line haha. If anyone feels they have something to contribute to this story by all means speak up my readers!

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Soon after trudging a mile down the road, the group came upon a running river. Po smiled and let a hearty breath of relief out as he pointed for the others to notice. Putting down his pack and supplies, the panda slide down the side of the road and right into the river, laughing as he submerged into the water. Tigress saw him slip down the hill like a child and merely rolled her eyes as she pinched her brow in annoyence of the panda's constant playfulness. She then looked at the raccoon who looked down at Po and was smiling a tiny bit, he met eyes with Tigress, without having to say anything, he removed his vest from under his robes and then ran toward the hill and slide down just as the panda had. Sincato slid faster and faster as he came upon the water he suddenly tried to brake with his feet, stopping him instantly and shooting him toward the panda. Sincato slammed right into Po's belly, ricashading off the bear and splashing into the water. Po laughed as the ringtail emerged from the depths of the river, clothes soaked and his grey fur tightly lamenating itself to his small frame. Sincato blinked several times, removing the water that blocked his vision and then grinned smally as he brought a paw from the water and sent a splash of water toward Po.

Po, who could not turn away from a slash fight, raised an eyebrow in mock curiosity as he suddenly brough his paws together and made the raccoon wish he hadnt slashed the Dragon Warrior. Taking his hge paws, he scooped out a large pool of water and dropped it right above the raccoon's head, foricing him to cough and gag as he was momentarily drowned in water.

Sincato waded a bit away and out of view as the bear took this time to rinse off himself with a bit of soap, the ringtail, removing his robes, wrapped them up in his paws as he rung them and shook them in the water. He then looked to watch if anyone could see him and then removed his black pants, giving them a quick wash before anyone headed in his direction. He took a dive into the water, letting the H2O run through his fur, washing away the blood of the wolves, trying to wash away all the terrible things he felt. Looking down at his fur, he ran his paws down his white chest, over his stomach and down his crotch and legs as he did his best to get completely clean. Turning around as he stood halfway out of the water, he looked for where he'd set his pants and robe, only to find Hu looking at him and giggling. He dove under the water again, keeping himself concealed from the young rabbit.

"Hey, you know you're not suppose to bother others when they're in the bath." He said in a parental tone, he hadn't meant to, but seeing the little rabbit sneaking around as she had reminded him of when his own son would steal his clothes as he took a bath and then scream for help to get his father to run out of the house stark raving nude while their neighbors would be out gardening, earning him a laugh or two from the community as the raccoon turned to a dark shade of red. Thankfully fur helped, but not when it clung to his body as tight as skin managed to.

Hu laughed and rocked back and forth on a treebranch, He stood below her and frowned sternly, both paws on his waistline. Hu blew a rasberry at him in dissapointment.

" Oh comeon, your no fun."

"Well in my defense, I'm alot more fun when dressed so if you wouldn't mind, please go to your parents and allow me to dress please." He said, watching as the rabbit huffed impatiently and marched off to her mother and father. Sincato couldn't help but smile and shake his head, god children were all alike. He took hold of his tail and began twisting out as much of the water as he could, allowing it dry faster and puff out once more. Unlike Shifu's, Sincato's ringed tail was less rounded and slimmer. He groaned to himself as he found a knot in his fur he would need to pick out.

Tigress had found her own private part of the river, alongside the other side of the bend in the river. She was always quite uncomfortable with undressing anywhere but her room in the palace. Slowly slipping her vest off and her black pants and foot bindings, she laid along the bottom of the river on her back and washed her hair and fur in the slow and steady current. She sat in the river upright and went about rinising her things before flopping them ontop the pebble covered sand to dry out in the sun as she soaked in the warm river. From her position, she squinted through the trees and saw something grey slowly moving in the river, the raccoon, she could see right toward him. He hadn't seemed to notice her yet, somewhat making her curiosity continue to watch him was he washed himself and rung out his clothes. The ringtailed knife thrower pulled up his black and silver pants and stood for a moment, as if in a trance as he had his back toward the tiger. His long tail wavered in the water as he stood, head slightly hung, both arms in front of him clasped together. He then put on his robe and tied it closed and waded from the water and grabbed his vest, completly unaware of the feline eyes upon him.

Tigress sank back, she knew something was happening to him, but she would be the last one who could come with an answer. The raccoon was in some kind of struggle, with himself, an internal battle of mass proportions. Putting her clothes back on and resetting the binds on her back paws, she marched up the riverbed back toward the ringtail, cutting through the trees to cut him off. He walked along the pebbles an stopped in great suprise when the orange and black master landed infront of him.

"Oh hey."

"Hello." She said hesitently, not knowing fully what to say next. Sincato fidgited a bit and made a gesture to his robes.

"Heh, I'm um...Im clean finally. Ugh was feeling miserable there for a minute, expecially in this heat." She nodded in agreement, finally opening her mouth to respond.

"Yes it was bad for a while." The ringtail looked in her eyes as they stared upon him, awaiting an answer. He breathed slowly and steadily as he spoke next. He knew what she'd awaited asking him, not that it was any true buisness of hers, but if she wished to hear it from the horses mouth so to speak, then fine.

"Whats going on is this, My family has been murdered, I am an excapee from an asylum, my body is slowly but surely being taken over by something that I pleaded for in the first place, I'm terrified of whats to come now because theres been nothing of hope to uplift me, thats whats going on." He said in a hard breath. He hadn't ment to drop everything on the feline master like he had, it was just he could see where the coversation was leading and hadn't wished to speak upon it. Tigress looked at him for a minute with piercing eyes that dipped into the very heart of the raccoon as he continued to stare back at her.

"Po has spoken with me of your trials and tribulations you've suffered, how you lost your family through greed and evil, Sincato, I know what its like to feel worried as you do know. I've never lost anyone of my own because from my knowledge, Ive never had anyone, any family. But when you care about someone, as I can see you do, I see how you look at the Shim family, how you act around their daughter." Sincato drooped his head, he didn't realize he'd been so obvious about his concern over the rabbits who he'd come to find himself loving, he'd never ment to, it just happened.

He looked over in the direction he could see them through the trees and branches.

"They...remind me of my son and wife, something nothing has been able to been able to recreate for me in years. All this time I've seethed and journeyed through on vengence and justice, that family was finally what brought a bit of life back into my soul, and I can't lose that, not again so I just feel like I need to do everything to protect that."

Tigress nodded, letting her eyes track with him, her form brought a paw up and took his hand. She stared at it and ran her padded digits over the finger and top of the hand. She let go of him a minute later.

"I didn't mean to offend you if I did, I am sorry." Sincato blinked twice, why was Tigress apologizing to him? She hadn't done anything wrong. Sincato shook his head to dismiss it and headed toward the others to get started on their journey again. He didn't really feel much like talking anymore, to really anyone at the moment as thoughts ran through his head.

_You can't staty with the shims forever_

_stop trying to recreate what you had, you will never have it again as it was._

Po walked near Tigress as they traveled up the steep mountain. His breathes were short but managable as he tried to speak to the feline as they hiked.

"So, uh did you and Sincato talk about anything interesting?"

"Well, not really. Nothing that I didn't already know anyway." She replied, trying to focus on the trail ahead. Po thought to himself for a moment and then responded.

"Tigress, don't tell him this, but..I don't know what to do for Sin, like I can't figure out anything that will fix him right away besides meditation or a lobotomy maybe." Tigress raised an eyebrow at the panda.

"Alright I was joking about the last part."

"Po, if you want to seek help for him, go to Oogway." She said to the panda, Po took his turn to raise his brow.

"Um, Tigress if you hadn't noticed, Oogway isn't really arou-

"I KNOW HE'S DEAD you genius! I'm saying visit him in the form of meditation, He has ways of contacting us that we don't even know about. I'm not saying he will solve all your problems, but if you need guidence, he would be the person I would go to, not me." She said, not trying to belittle herself but to just give the dragon warrior the best advice should could come up with. Po nodded and smiled a bit. Playfully, he reached with a black furred paw and brushed Tigress's white cheek.

"Hmm, you know under all those whiskers and fur, you have quite the brain, you know that?" Tigress smirked and punched the panda in the arm. He winced and held it as they journeyed forth. While she tried to hide it, the two of them continually found themselves brushing their paws against one another. Po noticed first, never one to not make a spectacle of things, He latched on to Tigress's large paw and began swinging it around with his own, forcing a few laughs from the Shim family traveling behind the two. Tigress hadn't really wished to ruin the fun moment for the group so she went along with it as she mocked the panda with his small steps he always took.

As the day grew late and nightfall came in, the travelers stood atop a hillside that led down toward a large village.

Sincato looked down at it's quiet peacefulness,

the village of Hyranda.

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A/N, Aha chapter...9? yes there it is, well hope you like this chapter, I'm off to prepare for a good week of vacationing, good food and fun, enjoy your holidays!


	10. Homestead

A/N, Hey thank you all for your reviews, I apologize for my chapters, I could use this excuse or that one but in the end I'm sorry still so there ya are, hope everyone has a good christmas and enjoys going into the new year, I know I do.

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The Shim's led them down into the village, time at last to be able to sit once more and let the aching feet rest and unbind. Upon entrance, Po noticed Sncato pulling up his face mask and throwing over his hood.

"Hey Sin?"

Sincato turned head and looked up as they continued walking.

"Um Yes?"

"Don't worry about hiding from the guards, as long as Tigress and I are around, you're staying with us." He said confidently patting himself on the chest as he spoke. Sincato nodded, while leaving his face cloth on he drew back his hood, allowing his two ears to bend back into position. He knew he could trust Po to keep him safe while he ventured back from the place he'd once called home. The air he drew in felt, thick with emotion, judgement, and loss. He looked about the homes on the right and left, each sat the same as they had when his family had been slaughtered, as if the structures stood insensitive to what had happened. He could see little to no villagers around, only a few off in the distance, mingling with one another at a table with drinks in hand.

They came to a crossroad a few feet ahead of them, the Shim family stepped forward and signaled for them to follow as they headed to the left. Tigress and Po watched Sincato turn his head in the other direction for a moment, as if recognizing something. Tigress turned an eye to Po, the dragon warrior could only shrug,

"um, good eats that way?" He guessed, earning him a jab in the belly by the feline master. Trailing along with the rabbits, the group arrived in front of a small dark brown home with a stone doorway and dark green curtains hanging from the window shutters.

The mother turned around and spoke,

"This is our cousin's home, We'll be staying here for a few weeks, please come in and rest yourselves. You are all to thank for our safe passage here, escpecially you Sincato." The raccoon raised his head in alert that he'd been spoken of. The mother smiled as she walked up and gave him a large hug. Sincato ackwardly leaned in and returned the hug.

"Um well thank you." The father took a turn to speak,

"Why no, if it hadn't been for you, we could of all been taken prisoner or killed, you all did a fantastic job, now come on in, we need to get a special dinner for you lot prepared." He took Po and Tigress's paws and led them in. Sincato stood outside a minute, Hu began stepping in the door, before turning around and jumping in front of the raccoon.

"When I'm all grown up, I hope I'm just like you." the raccoon looked down at the happy rabbit, he raised his hea and looked around his familiar surroundings again before kneeling down on one knee and pulling down his facecloth.

"Hu, if its my last wish in the world, I want you to be anything but me." She looked at him confused, one ear flopping over as the other stood tall on the girl's head.

"What? Why not? You're cool, you save people, you saved me a buncha times and my family,"

"Yes but...I'm nothing close to what I think you could be, I'm not the hero you see me as." He said, self disapointment ringing through his voice. The little rabbit shook her head at him,

"Stop lying to urself, face it, you are good, thats that!" Sincato couldn't help but be speechless infront of this little girl who had decided to take it upon herself to label him as a sign of hope, a sign of security, why crush her dreams?

The raccoon sluggishly nodded his head at her and then smirked as he shoved her up the stairs and into the house with the other animals. Everyone took a seat to let the aching feet rest. Tigress sat against the wall alongside the window, looking out at the beginning downpour of rain trickling down the window pane. Po, not wishing to break any of the seemingly delicate furniture, decided to plop himself atop the floor as the rabbits cushioned themselves along a large couch for them as the residents sat at the coffee table in the living room next to them. Sincato rested in an indian style seating alongside Po. Hu Rabbit busied herself with tailing her relatives and constantly asking to help as they went to the kitchen. Po turned to Sincato and spoke,

"I wonder if they need any help?" He whispered, jutting a thumb toward the pantry door. Sincato chuckled at the panda,

"Oh please, Dragon Warrior don't lie to me. You just wanna peek in and start showing off huh?" Po wore a sheepish grin as he shrugged his shoulders, Tigress giving him a perplexed look at his cooking ego.

"Need I remind you Po of when you decided to help the bovine family that lives near the gates? You almost dropped their son into the cauldron of boiling water." Sincato's eyes widened as he turned and looked up at Po who had scrunched his face into a grumpy scowl,

"I didn't drop him, he was very hyper and wanted to see what I was cooking so I showed him, end of story."

" So there's no specific reason you've been banned from babysitting in the village." Tigress inquired as she leaned against the glass, arms crossed, wearing a look of superiority in her eyes. Po waved that comment away like a bad smell. The ringtail laughed quietly at the panda's expense, Tigress was using the time she was off her feet to keep her wit in shape it seemed. After about an hour of listening to Tigress and Po's reflective verbal sparring match, the Hu's relatives sat them down for dinner. Po grinned eagerly and clapped as he saw a cart wheeling out carrying many entrees upon it. Sincato tried to keep patient as he watched the spiced noodles pass along the table, alongside the veggie wantons. He continually put his paw to his mouth, attempting to put on a thoughtful expression while keeping the drool from spilling out. Everyone ate in comfortable silence, all were exausted from the days of traveling and were happy to worry about nothing more momentarily than filling their bellies. black ringed taile

Finishing up, everyone thanked the Shim family and their relatives for the delicous meal before scouting out where everyone would sleep. Hu, having used up all her energy, lay collapsed on the floor, her plush rabbit in paw. Sincato looked at her parents and motioned down to their daughter. The mother chuckled and elbowed the father to get his attention. Sincato took a knee and scooped up the little rabbit.

"You both look tired, I can drag her to her room if you like." Both nodded and smiled in appreciation, Sincato turned on his heel and strolled out of the room.

Climbing the stairs as silently as he could while he cradled the young bunny, the black robed raccoon lead the girl to her specified room. His fluffy black ringed tail swept side to side across the floor in a gentle metronome pace, barely ever touching the surface of fine harded oak wood. He stood right alongside her bed, still holding her in his arms. Her head was snuggled in with his left upper arm, both large ears falling atop of her sleeping face. Sincato stared down at her, letting her peacefull form relax his mind momentarily from the creeping anxiety he'd felt since stepping into his village again. He laid her down, pulled the covers over her as she settled into the bed. Taking a paw he brushed it down her fuzzy cheek.

"I won't let anything happen to you Hu. I promise." He whispered, knowing she probobly couldn't hear him anyway. He tiptoed out of the room and blew out the candle that sat net to the door. Closing it, he turned and stepped..

...into Tigress? His foot stood practically weightless atop of hers as she looked at him. Letting his eyes break from hers for a sec, he retracted his foot and looked back at her.

"You know you have a terrible habit of sneaking up on me I've noticed." He said, the feline master's coner of her mouth curled into a grin.

"Well that means I haven't lost my touch then, good to know. I want you and I to take a walk, okay?" He looked at her confused.

"Its Po's idea, don't get any smart remarks ready if you still want to keep your limbs." She added.

"Well what is his plan?"

"Obeservation, he wants to see if theres anything that can help him understand...you better." She said, trying to sound confident, while her brain couldn't fully have faith in the panda's ways of help.

"hmm, you sure its not just so he can watch you from afar?" That, while having been said in a humoros tone earned him a smack in the face, no claws just yet thankfully.

"JUST...do it, okay? And the next time I hear you mumble such as a peep of things like that, I will tear out your voicebox, understood?" Sincato went wide eyed while nodding slowly.

_Apparently she isn't fond of those kind of jokes_

They headed out onto the street and began heading west. Tigress let Sincato more or less lead, he knew this place better than she anyway so then she could help Po in regard by picking his brain a bit. They strode in silence for a moment as Sincato looked at some of the houses along the area. Most were places he'd delivered custom metal work to, mantle hooks, gates and whatnot, most of his work stood proudly outside, as if to say the past was irrelavent, though he could never bring himself to believe that. Those who'd seen him being hauled away couldn't possibly have anything but discomfort and fear of him. He noticed the feline trying to not stare at him, he decided he might as well give someone a tour since there were already here anyway.

"Ahem, this um, is house with the blue, well you can't really see it very well but uh anyway, this family had me to work on their basement, it was probobly the longest job I have done yet, it took a few weeks to do." He said, Tigress looked at the house,

"What did you do in the basement?"

"Well they needed to childproof it, I had to buff out alot of rough edges, build support systems for the sharp beams around it and stuff, it was kind of fun just because the father kept coming down and handing me wine on late nights, they were good people." The two of them strolled further down the road, occasionally hearing a bush shake and then remembering that they were being "observed." How this would help Sincato, Tigress had no idea, she continually tried to come up with answers to Po's method, but had yet to find anything make sense to her.

The two walked farther and farther from the house, through the village and into farmland territory, only one house or so for a few blocks until Sincato stopped abruptly, almost sending Tigress crashing into him.

"Hey what's the big idea!" She asked, Sincato just stood and stared emotionless. Tigress turned to face what the raccoon was so bemused by and found herself looking at a home, well what at one point had been a home. It was a medium sized two story house,the grass was long overgrown at least by a few feet. The windows were broken, the windows trim was tainted black by flames, half the outside was charred, a door hung by one hinge on the lower side. While it was dark, Tigress could still see a shed behind the house, its doors ripped off, many random tools laying in the grass around it.

Tigress looked over at him,

"...Is this..."

Sincato spoke so quietly that it would have been easier to hear a leaf land in water.

"This... is my house."

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A/N Hey thank you for all the reviews, I've really had a hard time getting back on track and into my writing again. I like the ideas I've heard and now a web of possibilities is forming, I am not sure when I will update ext but hopefully soon! Thank you all for reading and I hope you all do well in the new year!


	11. Home is where the hope is

A/N, Hey there everyone! I finally got the gumption to put in the next chapter, thank you all for the reviews including Jo Po Narvark, it was motiviating to get my ass back writing!

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Tigress and Sincato stood in frozen silence, as if time had hit pause in order to allow the true reality of where they stood to sink through. Tigress turned her head to the side and watched the raccoon as he stood before his former dwelling. The house loomed over Sincato, the broken windows with burned curtains softly flowing in the wind as it breezed through the home, nothing to stop its invasive.

The raccoon walked up the front steps of his house and pushed the door open, it creaked and groaned as the two entered into his house. Looking around, it brought a flurry of violent memories of possible scenarios that could have brought his son and wife to their agonizing deaths. He stepped through the living room, his left foot brushing against something prickly and blackened. He bent down and looked at what he'd stepped upon. It was a small originally white bear, the fire had charred its faux fur into appearing panda like in its barbequed patterns. His son had always carried this around, granted he'd never wanted a security blanket, this was enough for him though, a friend he could always come to when the ones in school wouldn't. Sincato's grip on the bear grew tight as he tried to force himself from falling deeper into the memories he bore of his now lost forever family. Tigress stayed close by, noticing the household itself stood as a traditional and well kept place of growth and happiness. Even in its darkened state, positivity and love could still be seen peer through the black cracks of enflamed walls and windows. Looking to her left she noticed a sight that forced her to bite her lip in control of her emotions. It was a door, leading to the basement left open, on the side of the door, were small measurements, the tallest only being one of about two feet high.

Sincato met her gaze and let out a shuddering breath of air,

"That's. thats my son's door, he always had to keep in check with his height, it was so important for him to grow up to be as tall as me..." Sincato sucked in a deep breath of air and blew it out again. He took a rest against the cracked countertop, his black sleeveless robe gently rolling against the wind. Tigress stood still, her eyes tracing over the rest of the rooms from where she could see.

"Are you okay, being back here?" She asked tentativly, unsure exactly how the ringtail was actually dealing with this. Sincato looked back at Tigress and nodded,

"Its the feathest thing from easy, but it needed to be done. Let's leave, I need to be away from here." He said, following Tigress as she led the way out. Po stood outside on the front brick steps, a brush and paper scroll in his right paw.

"Sin, is this your place?" He asked, the raccoon looked at him, he turne back to the house with a final gaze,

"Not anymore." Those words, those two words, while the pain was still great in his heart and mind, those words seemed to lift a great weight off his back as he said them. He did not have to wallow in pain forever, he wasn't supposed to return and live out the rest of his days in a torturous memory of what is now followed by what was. Po nodded in understanding and patted Sincato on the shoulder.

"Hey, I'm proud of you, you know that? I know few people who can come back to a scene like this and stand as strong as you are right now." Sincato looked up at Po, his green eyes beginning to moisten as the panda talked him up.

"Thanks Po, it means alot. Not to rush you but have you made any headway on changing me at all?" He asked with a glint of high hopes. Around the Dragon Warrior, he felt a true rise in hopes that things would turn out alright in the end. Po looked toward Tigress as he pondered what to say.

"Well buddy, I think I may have an answer, but I need to work alongside someone I haven't seen in a while." Sincato raised an eyebrow

"Oogway." Po whispered, leaving the raccoon in a thoughtful state as he walked over to master Tigress. She crossed her arms infront of her but allowed her face to soften.

"What is your plan Po? How is Oogway going to help him?"

"I just need guidance Tigress, if anyone can give that to me, its him." Po said with assurance. He led them out of the neighorhood and back toward the rabbit home. On the way down a crossing street Tigress and Po continued walking along the road, unbenouced to them, the raccoon had stopped and changed directions. Once they'd turned their attention toward the raccoon, and not getting a response, they turned back to see him running down into a dark alley.

Sincato's POV

His prey was in sight, god, he'd thought it to be impossible, that there was no way those swine demons could bew dwelling in this village again after the lengths he'd gone to ensure their fear in returning here. But as sure as he was alive, he raced down the alley, the frightened pig in his sights and never leaving them as he kept up with the boar. Leaping into the air and using his arms to grab to the top of the honing and project him faster at the pig in a mountain cat reflex, he divebombed his opponant, sending the two of them crashing into a garbage bin and rolling around in the dirt. He would tell me why they were back, he would tell me where they resided at.

Sincato grabbed the pig by the throat as he continued to swat at him with his hooves, and slammed his head against the dirt as hard as he could , again and again and again. Po ran toward the fierce raccoon as he shook the pig vicously growling,

"Where are the rest of you! WHERE??? You tell me so help me I will cut out your guts and devour them!" Po lifted the violent raccoon who struggled and gnashed his sharp canines at the boar in a desperate rage to reach him. The pig backed up on all fours, right into Tigress, who kicked him in the gut hard enough to send him off the ground and colliding into a wall, leaving a cracking imprint of the swine rebel in its place. The pig gasped an put up a hoove as he choked out his breath in an attempt to cease the violence against him.

"Please, Please don't kill me, I have a family, two sons, a daughter and a wife! Please their all I have-" Sincato managed to slipe out of Po's grasp and rake his natural claws deep into the pig's face, trying to rip as much flesh off as he could in the process.

"WHAT ABOUT MY SON? WHAT ABOUT MY WIFE AND CHILD YOU STOLE FROM ME!!! WHY THEM AND NOT YOU??? WHY!!!" He screamed in demand, knowing know answer would ever come close to dosing the fire that roared from inside him. Po did his best to hold onto the flailing raccoon as he jerked and twisted his way toward the pig. Tigress got in the face of the boar with a deadly serious look in her eyes as she addressed the swine.

"Do you know who we are?" The boar nodded,

"You're frm the valley of Peace, Dragon warrior and Master Tigress, yes I know of you all well!" He whimpered anxiously, willing to say anything ot keep his hide intact.

"Do you recognize this man?" She pointe to Sincato who was giving the panda quite the workout as he struggled against him. Po had to hold him tight and whisper soothing words to him in a way of getting the raccoon to clam himself.

The pig whined and gulped in fear,

"He's going to kill me. you can't hold him forever, sooner or later he'll find me and do what we had coming." he said in a weak voice as he teared up, Tigress leaned in.

"What do you have coming, speak up boar!" She said, a punch in the shoulder furthering her point in getting to the core issue.

"We shouldn't of been there, the boss was starting to look weak, he needed people to fear him again, we didn't want to hurt them-"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING LIE TO HER YOU WASTE OF LIFE!!!!" Po scooped up Sincato's underside of his chin and held his mouth closed and kept his face tucked into his belly away from the pig. The boar was shaking in fear from all of them before him, though he knew of the Dragon Warrior's heart, he didn't expect to be granted life. Po stood strong and glared into the eyes of the rebel. He'd studied the ruthless tactics of this group ever since he'd been approached by Sincato. Summoning ever scroll in relation to this vicous clan.

" You will tell us where the rest of the boar clan stays or if they are on the move, and then MAYBE I'll keep my grip on this man, if not, you can expect a long jouney to your demise, Filth!" He said angerily. He hadn't expected himself to feel as passionate as what was being projected out from him, but certain circumstances can bring an entire different animal out of you.

The pig nodded in understanding and quickly began spilling the operations of his clan, trying to keep from meeting the inferno blazing within the ringtail's eyes as all the foul plans fell out onto the table. Tigress and Po looked to one another as they heard of the intentions of this clan and knew they had to come up with a plan to keep anyone from getting hurt. The pig finished and looked at the two for mercy.

Tigress's eyes sliced right into his soul as she spoke.

"You are not only a coward, your also a traitor, Po, release him." Po looked up in shock as Tigress stared in his direction. He looked down at Sincato who no longer was struggling but merely breathing hungerily like a dog and standing, clenching and unchlenching his fists as he mentally butchered the beast beofore him. Tentativly, Po loosened his grip on the raccoon, setting him on the ground once more. Sincato stood still for a moment, watching as the ugly monster squealed in fear and backed against a wall. Slowly stepping forward, Sincato squatted down to eye level with the boar.

"I'm going to finish you secound to last for this." And with that lashed his jaws around the pig's neck and vicously ripped his head back, tearing a giant hole into the boar's throat. The pig shrieked and grabbed at its throat in attempts to stop the bleeding. Sincato stood, chewing on the flesh and meat his mouth contained, a demonic look in his eyes as he swallowed the pieces and wiped his muzzle off on his black forearm. Tigress and Po had to look away during this, each of them, not wishing to innterupt what was rightfully Sin's but also seeing the true darkness in what was taking place, what they were allowing to happen. Sincato spit on the pig and walekd back between Po and Tigress. They turned and left the boar to return home, bleeding profusely and terrified of every corner he turned upon.

It was only a matter of time before they were back at the house, Po and Tigress both agreed to meet outside after Sincato was assured to be alseep and in bed. Po met Tigress around the back of the house and sat with her in the front steps outside.

Tigress heaved a sigh, all of this was starting to become a bit much, they had taken on foes of the darkest realm, but something about this whole scenario felt different, the circumstances were different, but should they have allowed it to affect their actions?

"Po, tell me what your thinking." Po turned to her with a slightly fallen face,

"I'm not sure of what to take from what just happened, I mean, was that, did that really just happen?" Tigress ran her paws over her head and back down her neck along her red vested shoulders.

"It wasn't right, I let my feelings get involved with this and I got carried away. I shouldn't have let myself tell you to let him go, what was I thinking?" Po looked into her eyes,

"You wereing thinking as a parent Tigress, for the longest time, we've all operated like general protectors of the villagers but when you see them as your family, judgement can go flying out of control. Sincato turned cannibal because of this, we can't let this get too deep in our heads if we want to help him." Po said difficultly. For him, he had never witnessed such an act of brutality and evil as what he'd just been exposed to in the last few hours.

"Po, He's got something inside him, what we just saw wasn't Sincato, did you see his eyes? They changed and glowed slightly, he's carrying something, something terrible and I think its getting to be too much for him." Po nodded,

"I need to speak with Oogway, he HAS to have a way for this to come out." Po said, getting to his feet. Tigress stood as well, she turned to head back and paused. Po only could watch as she quickly turned around and grabbed him in a tight hug. Her arms couldn't fully connect around the panda, but she buried her face into the top of his black furred chest, shaking.

"I want this to be over Po, I know I have to be strong but this is actually tearing me apart!" She cried through muffled tears into the panda's fur. Po wrapped her up in his large arms like a blanket and stroked her back.

"It will be Tigress, It will be." He consoled. She drew in a large breath of air and gasped, clearing her face of the salty moisture from her eyes. She looked up at him again before tucking her head into his chest once more.

"It had better be, you big oaf, I'm counting on you."

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A/N, Hey everyone, here is chapter eleven! Hope this was a good read for you and entertaining enough. If its bothering anyone, I know I'm having alot of weakness scenes between the main characters, I'm just trying to think of what reactions would these beings have in this precarious situation. Noone can be strong all the time, not even Tai Lung! Anway hope you like, if anyone has ideas of what should happen next, feed them to me!


	12. this road is one of misery

A/N, Hey there everyone reading this, I'm getting back toward my writing as much as possible, hoping you are all still following the story and apolies about the wait on the chapter.

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The cresent moon loomed overhead, the village sat in silence, invisible winds sneaking through the alleyways and streets.

Po sat in a medetative state, eyes closed and gentle rythmic humming wafting from his lips. The dragon warrior as making it his overnight mission to reach Oogway, he needed the turtle's inspiration and desperatly. As the evening grew later, the panda seeped deeper and deeper into a tranquil state of mind.

Walking down through a brightly lit road, Po climbed a hill that felt as if it grew a few feet with every step he took. Moments later he found himself panting at the very top of the hill, hunched over, trying to get his heart to slow down.

"hm, I should have come down earlier, but the view was too pleasent to miss." Po's heavy breathing clouded much of his hearing but when it came to a voice he had not heard in years, it shown through clear and true. Po looked up from his bent over stance,

"Oogway, mm Master Oogway!" The turle's face brightened as the dragon warrior stood before him.

"Ah, young Dragon warrior, I was waiting for you to come see me, I wasn't sure if you'd have the time." The panda smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, it was true, Shifu had taught all members of the jade palace how to communicate with the spirit world, Po hadn't truly thought to put his new found ability to any use until just recently.

"Hehe apologies Master Oogway, I was, well I should have come earlier. Master, I need your help." The turtle's features turned cold somewhat, making the panda before him uneasy.

"You seek the force that drives the one you seek to aid yes?" He spoke with concern in his voice, unsteadying the drgon warrior all the more. Po gulped and nodded.

"I must contact this one who lives in Sincato, its the only way to helping him." The old turtle grimaced and turned away.

"Young Dragon Warrior, that soul is one of true darkness, though it may hide its actions behind justification, it is also that of an unstable being." Po nodded slowly, the reality of what he was asking to face now felt as though he were going to be against a mentally insane beast. The panda sighed, knowing this would be a challenging journey. He took a deep brath and then blew it out, along with all his doubts and worries of the road ahead.

"Master...it must be done, please, for the safety of the villagers, for the safety of Sincato, I ask you to send me toward it." Master Oogway's eyes were filled with that of sorrow and guilt, he, in all his years on the earth had never thought to be asked to bring someone he'd watched grow, into the devil's claws. The turtle laid a paw on Po's shoulder and sighed.

"If it is what you wish, my son, let it be then." With that Po was sent blasting into a tunnel of black and fire that burned above in the ceiling. Po closed hs eyes tight as he mentally teleported into a place he'd never known of, nor wished on anyone to go. Landing in a pile of bodies, most of them war soldiers from previous generations, the panda yelped and jumped back as fires roared in vast distances, although there were no walls or buildings to bounce sound off, the constant sound of screams and shrieks of agony could be heard swirling around the dragon warrior as he took a deep breath and stood strong, finally opening his eyes to see what lay before him in this new place. The sky black with bllowing smoke clouds thick and low toward the ground, the ground hard and with sharp jagged edges everywhere, some corpeses were even pierced straight through, as others lay in heaps and piles, some stuck unde boulders, others mutilated to the point of immobility.

As Po timidly approached, he noticed they were actually alive, merely stuck in place to endure what torture was meant for them. Fire burst high in the distance as Po looked with squinted eyes as he saw a being drifting over his direction. Those who were pinned, feebly scratched and attempted to pull themselves free, something they'd tried numerous times with the same result, though the fear of what appraoched the bear was neverending.

Stalking out of the clouds of billowing smoke, strode a black cloaked wolf, its face covered by a metal mask, the hood drawn with only the muzzle protruding from the darkness of the cloak, its paws, different, the fingers were longer and came into serrated talons which appeared as though they could slice in one fluid motion, through the jade palace. Po shivered and tried to keep his body sturdy as the dog walked up to his shaking form, stopping a few yards away. Tilting its head slowly to the side, the wolf stuck a paw outward and curled his fingers, the jesture pulling back the hood that hung over the being's mask. Po stared into the monster before, its mask was that of an iron wolf, its eyes covered by red lenses, but emiting a mysterious glow. The mask itself was seemingly split in half, one side was completly black, as if coated in soout. The other, cold steel that had strong sharp metal thorns thatdonned all along the left side of the mask, po's right side. It stood over the panda by a few feet, merely staring into the bear's terrified face, studying him. It finally spoke, though, ever word uttered was the emition of thousands of screaming souls, trapped in the beast's vocal chords.

"You are not to be here. You are not like them." The masked dog breathed, pointing toward all the thousands of animals that struggled and shrieked in pain. The wolf stepped toward Po, making him cringe slightly, the dog closed the gap between them, laying a sharp paw upon the bear's collarbone, he breathed deeply.

"You are that of a pure soul, nothing ails you, nothing to corrupt you, why do you stand before me now?" The panda nervously tried to regain his control over his fear as he looked into the red lenses of the mask, took a brave step forth and spoke,

"I am here, because of the one you control." The dog stood still for a secound, Po instantly winced as a white hot visual of the raccoon Sincato flashed before him.

"He is the one who called of me, he is that of my link to that which is mortal." The Dragon Warrior put his paws up in a nonhostile motion.

"But why must you continue to use him?" Another flash of firey images plague the bear's vison, Sincato clutching his son, kneeling by his wife as they slipped into the spirit world, the raccoon crying profusely.

"Because his work is not finished. Only by true pleading of my name will I grant mortal beings my soul, all that makes me what I am. This being's fulfillment is not at completion just yet, but soon, very soon." It said, the flames reflecting off the metal thorns of the mask. Po looked up at the wolf face, he felt himself starting to become dizzy from the echos of torment and torture that flowed through this land of misery. Losing his balance in his knees, the panda fell to the floor, unable to rise, suddenly too weak to move a muscle. He stared up at the dog surrounded by fire, its features solmly looking down upon him as his vison darkened. In the distance, an echoing voice could be heard.

"PO!" Tigress yelled in the bear's earlobe as she shook him awake. Po shook his head and allowed his eyes to adjust, he seemed to be back in his room, it was daylight outside, the sun shining through the window panes. He looked over at Tigress who sat back on her heels staring at him.

"What happened? You were meditating one minute and then you were huddled back in the corner shaking." Tigress said with concern in her voice, she knew he had to of contacted master Oogway, but what had caused his reaction?

Po gasped and ran his black paws over the top of his head as he gathered himself.

"I...I met with Oogway, Tigress he was really there! Just like before, he spoke to me and told me he'd been waiting to hear from me." The bear said with small excitment.

"But what happened that made you act like that just now?" Po breathed for a minute and then looked up at Tigress,

"Tigress, we have a serious problem."

"What? What does that mean, tell me!" She said shaking his shoulder, He took her paw and held onto it for a sec.

"Sincato...is being driven to act by a demon that he triggered himself." He said, before Tigress could interject, he went on.

"Tigress it was the worst thing I have ever seen, there was fire everywhere! The screams, God they wouldn't stop, nothing would make them stop, and the...the creature that binds Sincato, I was so scared!" Po said bringing his paws to his face as he felt himself getting emotional. He took several deep breaths, Tigress keeping herself right next to him as the brear got it under control once more.

"This had to be one of the most evil things I ever had to see. I don't want go back there ever again!" He said, Tigress nodded and pulled the big panda in close to her, she laid her head against his chest.

"Po, I know that had to be hard for you, but look at what we know now? We know who's behind the puppeteering of the raccoon, we just need to find a way to get him out." Po held Tigress tight, not trying to crush her, but not wanting to let her go anytime soon.

"He, it said...Sinato's work isn't complete, e had to mean the rest of the boar clan!" Po said jumping up suddenly, Tigress getting to her feet all the quicker. "So what, we have to serve up the rest of the boars to him in order to bring Sincato to peace?" Po shook his head

"I don't know, I just know we need to do something, and they're involved somehow." A knock at the door distracted both the masters.

"Hey theres breakfast out here!" Came the little ringing voice of the rabbit child, her footsteps could be heard pattering down the hallway. The masters looked at eachother and then exited the room to join the family.

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A/N, Hey sorry about havin to cut the ending short, trust me this is not the last chapter if thats what you thought I ment lol. Any reviews will b welcome!


	13. The valley entertainment

A/N, Hey there everyone reading this, I have to apologize to you all who read this for having to wait for soo long, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. In this chapter there is a new character, a white fox dressed in dark green robes, I have the idea of her appearing much like Meryl Streep's character in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, if you haven't seen it already, do yourself a favor and see it, worth every penny! Onwards to the new chapter!

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A deep white glow from the moonlight above the animal residents shown bright and strong as it gleamed over the silvery and black hairs on the sleeing raccoon's form in the bed. He took a very familiar and terrible stroll as he lay there unconcious, but running for his life inisde his mind.

_Gasping for air, he threw all limbs into action to project himself towrd the fire as fast as he could. Reaching the burning home, he turned to face two bodies lying in the grass. _

_"No! OH God No PlEASE PLEASE For the love of Oh My God!" The raccoon spat out at a flying pace as he dropped to his knees and cradled his boy. _

_"Doc, doc say something." _

_No response_

_"Doc please, come on, wake up!"_

_Nothing of the young boy's features made even the slightest gesture, frustrating the raccoon father to unreached hieghts. _

_"Doc! DOC PlEASE!!! PLEASE SAY SOMETHING! DON'T LEAVE ME! NO PLEASE, OH PLEEEEAASE!" Sincato begged and begged of the sky above him, breaking down into gushing tears as he sunk his head in the boy's shoulder, his form shuddering and shaking as he lost himself in the killing zone of his family. His cries could be heard for miles throughout the valley, the crushing weight of the new reality setting in for him. His family was gone, permanently silenced, never would he come home to see his wife in the window smiling at him, never would he feel the sensation of being tackled by his son upon returning home from his work across the yard. They had been stolen from him, his life had been stolen from him. Gasping he sat back a moment, his eyes darkening slightly. They had never been involved in this, his wife and son hadn't deserved this kind of ruthless ending. They had been treated with acts of inhumanity that blinded the ringtail as he laid with them in yard next to the burning house. Breathing deeply with tightly shut eyes, There was one who could make this right, only one who could bring an end to the ruthless eveil that had swallowed his wife and child. there was no answer that would satisfy this tragedy than the ultimate selfish act. Slowly and growing in size, the chant began driftin out of the raccoon's mouth as he leaned back facing the skies. _

_"I come to ask the scarred one, I come to seek his fire, to prey upon those who've wrong me in this unforgivable way. Grant me the soul who does not resist, but destroys the darkness in its midst. My body I give to you as a portal, Use it to bring justice to my loved ones. Bring me to those who done me wrong, Bring me those who've done me wrong! BRING THOSE TO ME WHO'VE DONE ME WRONG!!!!" __Lighting struck numerous places as the raccoon bellowed. One bolt flashed out of the sky and struck the raccoon holding his dead family in his paws. Sincato screamed and roared with pain and shock as he was surrounded by lighting as the surge continued. The energy slammed through his body as his demands were not left upon deaf ears. He wrenched and shifted violently as the storm centered upon the raccoon, clouds spirling above him. Thunder crashed all around the valley as the transformation took place. Within a minute, everything went still, the lightening gone as soon as it had arrived, the clouds, still and unmoving. Sincato fell to the earth, still clutching his son and wife, their bodies like untouched puppets, laying silent. He shivered and whimpered in the tall grass as he felt a sensation traveling through his body, no, through his soul. He heard a voice call out, if you could call it that. Thousands of souls screaming coherently enough to form the words,_

_"Lost One. Do you ask of my power?"_

_Sincato panted, _

_"I- I ask of your strength to guide me to justice."_

_"And shall this right the misdoings you've endured?"_

_"Yes" The beast paused, Its form breathing steady and growling gently._

_"When you act in defense, in attack, I will ensure every motion is fluid and flawless. Is this understood?" Sincato breathed deep,_

_"Yes."_

_"Then move to the shed, someone lurks around the corner." With that, the raccoon was in motion, racing silently over toward his workshop. He needed a tool, something, something vicious, something menacing. Turing his head sharply he found a hatchet sitting on a hook on the support beam of the shed. Picking it off the wall, he stared down at it for a moment, coming to an understanding of what he was about to do. Closing his eyes, he stood for a secound, his head hung low, is this what he'd truly asked for? He had made weapons for soldiers, guards and warriors, but he hadn't ever expected to be face to face with an enemy, but now time took a turn for the darkest. The raccoon slowly opened his eyes as he heard the clinking of someone outside, sneaking around the shed..._

Sincato blinked open his eyes, glowing sunlight gleamed through the window panes. He sat up and leaned back on his paws. Turning his head side to side, he let out a satisfying "ah" as his neck cracked. Staring out the window, out onto the village, his village, he sat and watched. He could see a few people wander past as they ventured about the community, some young and new to the village, others were neighbors he'd never spoke to before but have lived nearby. He yanked the covers off and hopped off the bed and got dressed. Strapping up his vest of blades, he then threw on his sleeveless black cloak, tying his facemask in the back of his neck. Finding himself all ready, he went into the house, searching for the others.

Po stood at the edge of the stove, buisily chopping away at some vegatables as the residents of the house helped toss ingrediants into the boiling water next to the panda. Sincato yawned and waved good morning to them as he slowly made his way to the front door.

"Hey Master Po, would you mind if I took a little walk about outside? I'd just like to stretch out real quick." Po turned and nodded but motioned with his finger for the raccoon to go ito the next room for a sec.

Po shut the door behind him,

"Listen Sincato, before you go out there, you have to promise me something." Po's tone was serious, as Sincato felt it's strong warning upon him.

"Yes Master Po?" Po looked back at the door and then replied,

'Look don't stray away from the house too far, I need to be able to keep an eye on you. I know it sounds like a childish thing to ask but could you do me that one favor? I would help both you and I okay?" Sincato nodded, flattening his ears slightly.

"Sigh, ok Po, just because you're making what smells to be a good breakfast I'll stay nearby." Po's features brightened as he patted the raccoon on the back as they exited the room, Po went back to the stove and watched as Sincato left the house.

Getting outside, the ringtail looked around, first scanning his view for security, he'd seen some of the guards eyeing him as they'd first entered the village. The sunlight beamed down onto his dark form as he stepped off the porch and onto the road, looking around from side to side. He was already feeling the sun's warmth on his shiny grey fur, the clear sky giving off a feeling of positivity and livliness. Walking into the street, he leaned against a wall in sight of the rabbit's home, just close enough for the dragon warrior to make him out. He watched as the villagers went passed, some of the women and children looking up at him for a sec, as if trying to recall his ever being there before? He recognized many faces, few however had seen him or even paid attention to his presence.

Turning and looking fown toward the street, the raccoon soon spotted someone who he knew would remember him,

remember what happened that day.

Sincato looked back towards the house and jerked his head in a motion toward the street and began moving down the road. Po, who'd been casusally looking out the window at everything noticed out of the corner of his eye, the raccoon signaling him to move. The ringtailed mammal started weaving through the foot traffic, bobing and weaving his way closer to the one ahead of him, hoping to reach her in time. He crept up to her as he jogged along, coming to a walking pace, staying right next to her until he shoved her into a side street, out of everyone's view. She sqealed for a sec before he removed his hood. The black mask of the raccoon was pulled down as he revealed himself to her. The woman before him was a white fox, wearing a green robe. She looked straight into the raccoon's eyes with her deep blue glassy orbs. He studied her for a secound, taking in her face once again, her white groomed fur, soft eyebrows and black nose. Slowly she stepped closer,

"Sin...Sincato, It can't...it can't be you.." She said with wavering confidence. Sincato stood still, his head tilting to the side ever so slightly, it was her, the voice was only one that came from this valley. He nodded slowly as he looked into her face and took her paws in his.

"Yes, it is I my dearest kinya, you remember me." She nodded slowly as her face turned to a pained expression as she looked at him with sorrowful eyes.

"the guards, they carried you away after..after what you did, what they say you did." She said, a stinge of fear entering her voice as she recalled the night niether wished had existed.

"I..I left the asylum...It wasn't getting the answers I needed." She stepped back and dropped her paws from his wrists,

"You broke out?" She asked, daring the answer to be untrue but Sincato knew her better, she could see through anything, intelligent like that she was.

Sincato breathed, "Yes I excaped, I had to, there was nothing to aid me there, I had to find peace for my soul..I went to the dragon warrior." She raised a brow,

"The newest of the Valley of Peace? Po?" He bit his lip and nodded,

"Yes, he's my only hope for getting back to where I can live my life once again, to finally bring me the pieces of my future." He explained to her, hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions right away.

"Okay, so your seeking the dragon warrior, why are you here? What about the valley?"

"I was sent on a mission with both Dragon Warrior Po and the leader of the furious five Tigress. We're escorting a few family members back and forth for safety reasons." He said, trying not to let himself be distracted by Kinya's soft white fur the gleamed in the sunlight behind her. She blew out a deep breath, bringing her paws to her head, looking back into the street from the alley she turned back to him.

"Sin, the day they took you, the valley has grown dark, more innocent people are being hurt by invading clans, its not just the boar clan, its grown by alligator and wolf." Sin looked out toward the strolling public, their presence practically unknown the villagers. Sin looked at Kinya and slowly laid his paws upon her shoulders.

"Kin, this cannot go any further, it must be brought to an end now." She looked up at him,

"But what can be done? The villagers are controlled by the invading clans, more than half of the village is under their command." She said, closing her eyes trying not to let the current state of her home get to her emotions. The raccoon wrapped an arm around her and held her for a moment before leaning in and laying a kiss upon her forehead, resting his head there for a moment.

"Trust me Kinya, the dragon warrior and I can bring the village back, I promise you." She sniffed and glanced down,

"Well it's a terrible thing to promise someone something and then end up dead, so keep that in mind, will you?" She said, giving in to his embrace. From afar in the street, Po watched as the black and white figures held eachother, the white fox nuzzled her face slowly into Sincato's neck as he held her in his arms. The dragon warrior couldn't help but allow a small smile crawl across his features, the raccoon hadn't lost everyone. Sincato peeked an eye open and rolled it Po's direction who instinctivly blew a small whistling tune as he backtracked from the two. Some of the residing children gasped in shock as they noticed the large panda among them. One of the swine children approached him cautiously, nervously trembling the boy spoke.

"um...um mm-mr. Dragon Warrior? Is it really you?" This question seemed to draw the attention of everyone in the surounding area. Many gasps of shock were heard as the panda smiled warmly and took a knee to the child.

"Heh heh, yeah that would be me, you doing alright there pal?" He asked the young pig child in front of him, the boy trembled nervously before taking a breath and nodding.

"ye-yes sir, I'm just, well I really am a big fan of you, my mother said we'd come to your village one day but just not yet."

"Oh and why's that, you'd be more then welcome in my neck of the woods." The young swine looked around before looking toward his feet, Po leaned in as the child appeared to wish not to reply to the question from his hero. A voice rang out amongst the crowd.

"It's because of the Boar Clan, they will not allow us to travel outside our village for they believe we will flee and ever return." The Dragon Warrior stood up as the crowd began to talk amongst themselves, many voices ringing out at once.

"They told us if we ever set foot outside the gates, we would be harmed!"

"That if we don't give to them all of our earnings, our sons and daughters will be forced into slavery!"

"Their demands are too much to keep up with, it can't continue like this anymore, we don't have the strength to keep going!"

Po raised his arms to control the crowd, summoning their silence so he may respond. Just as he was about to though, many frightened gasps and whispers flowed through the street as they parted in half, opening the street immediatly. Standing a few blocks down the road, stood an armored figure, parts of its metal gleaming in the sunlight. The street was silent as the figure strode toward the panda. Po watched as the pig walked toward him, its form larger than others he'd seen. The tusks of the boar we sharpened into needle point tips, dried with blood and blackened. He walked right up the panda and stopped. Its eyes red and menacing as it glared at the bear, its breaths deep and heavy.

"From what I have heard in the last few moments, we have the Honorary Dragon Warrior in our presence, is that right?" He asked the crowd who stood silent, looking down, the boar looked for anyone to meet his gaze. Po's eyes wandered to Sincato who stood infront of the white fox, hands in his robes, awaiting any signal the Dragon Warrior would give him. Po held up a paw as the pig turned his back for Sincato to stand down. He could see the raccoon start to shudder slightly as he forced himself to remain still. His eyes were fixed on Po, trying not to even go near that of the pig. The boar walked up and down the crowd, eyes burning into each resident as they stood still and quiet as statues. The boar stopped suddenly and turned to look down at the small piglet boy who stood shaking with worry. The boars had made themselves notorious for lashing out at any moment at the first sign to themselves as disrespect. Taking his fixed eyes off the pig, the boar turned his attention toward the Panda. Po stood calmly as he watched the beast stand toe to toe with him, trying not to give away any thoughts of possible fear.

"You know, you may have been a big deal in your own neighborhood, but here, it is and always will be US who lead by example." He said suddely reaching out and grabbing the young piglet. Po's eyes narrowed darkely as he took a step forth.

"Put him down, and I'm not asking you." The words came strong from the panda's mouth, such tones had never been uttered so intensely as the bear spoke them now. The boar met his fierce gaze s paused. The cocky smirk on the snout of the bandit showed little fear of the Dragon Warrior.

"mmm, you say that with such passion, its ashame you don't convince me. I have heard the tales of you're doing in of the snow leapord but to be honest, that does nothing for me." the bandit said as he lifted the boy higher, bringing him to eye level. There was a small motion through the crowd behind them, Po noticed behind the pig stood the raccoon, facemask and hood on, only the darkness of his eyes showing.

"For your own safety, you will put the child down, unless you feel you are too cowardly to face someone more your size." Po said warningly, this seemed to dig into the pig's mind for as soon as the last word was uttered, the boy was dropped to the ground. He swung hard at the bear who stepped in closer, blocking his fist with his left paw, while grabbing the throat of the boar, lifting him up and immediatly slamming him into the hard compact street, sending vibrations so strong through the street, it sent cracks though the foundations of the surrounding buildings. The boar choked and gasped as the wind had been smashed out of him, unable to move as his back sent strong signals of pain through his entire body. The ferocity grew in the pigs eyes and he roared and reached in and pulled out a large iron mace from his side. Jumping to his feet with suprising agility, the boar growled before throwing the mace at the bear's head. Po had been caught offguard momentarily as he let his eyes jerk back to Sincato who stood in the street/fighting grounds, which costed him. He took the brunt of the hit to the shoulder as the mace impacted him. Po growled inwardly and defensively swung a paw out, grabbed hold of the mace and with the strength he summoned, lifted the boar into the air before headbutting him into the wall once more. By this time several other armored pigs arrived at the scene, all bearing weapons and confident steel gazes as they moved in on the two fighting in the street.

Tigress leapt next to the panda, her body tense like a spring and ready to lash out at the beast as he got to his feet. She glanced quickly toward her comrade as he brushed himself off before pointing to the wall as the pig regained his footing.

The female tigress propelled her body up off the shoulderpads of the pig and aimed a kick to the face with both of her feet, knocking the armored beast back as he madly swung and bellowed.

"Tigress!" Po yelled out to her, she turned at ran back at him, throwing her paws forward and letting him grab them as he quickly swung her sideways toward the brutal swine. She headed for the pig's chest but with a stroke of timing, the pig managed to dodge her attack and launched his mace at the panda once more, connecting with his hurt shoulder. Po roared in pain and frustration as he staggared backwards groaning in pain from his damaged shoulder. Hearing the bear's cry of pain, Sincato instinctivly made a move to head in his direction, but a paw stopped him in his tracks. He looked back at her, who met his gaze with a pleading look of desperation. Sincato looked back into the street turned fighting arena where anything was possible. Tigress was now facing off with the swine who growled and sneered at her, holding his side, he stepped out from the circle. Tigress's eyes burned into the faces of the villagers and the boar clan as they stood in silence for a moment, the only sounds came from wheezing breaths of the panda and boar. Nothing moved for a moment, noone spoke, a wave of tension could be felt beating rythmically as it flowed through the crowd. Po looked about the townspeople, cowering before the gaurds and infantry style men who surrounded the arena. A loud rythmic clapping could he heard from the back of the crowd, watching the people once again separate, a figure came and laid a shoulder upon his heavy breathing comrade. As the sunlight struck the man's face, the black clothed raccoon's eyes widened. There before the entire townspeople,

before the two honorary members of the Jade Palace,

stood the leader of the boar clan.

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A/N, oh deary me I've taken wayyy too long to get this chapter out, holy bejugus! Anyway tell me what you think and what you'd like to see possibly! Thank you and see you in the next chapter!


	14. The price

A/N, Hey there everyone reading this, Well, it has come down to the final straw, this has been alot of fun writing this story and I want to thank everyone for helping with their advice and reviews including JoPoNavark, many thanks dude! So now we come to it, let us read!

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Everyone stood still as the buildings they had raised from the ground as the leader of the boar clan finally ceased his clapping. A soft breeze blew through the villagers as everyone refused to draw any attention to themselves before the alpha male of the swines. He looked straight at Po and Tigress, not saying anything for a moment, but his eyes, his look of curiosity and sinister plotting etching itself into the minds of the two jade palace members. Po glanced from the boar, to Tigress alongside him and back to the boar, who maintained a steel glare in his direction.

"Two members of the valley of Peace enter my village, disarm and attack my guards and blatently disrespect me. Now tell me this my fellow brethren, what does this kind of unruly behavior merit as punishment?" The leader said, eyes shifting to his comrades for answers.

One of the soldiers responded from within the crowd.

"Burn the village to the ground! These traitors sent for the dragon warrior!"

"Yes BURN IT!" Another voice rang out.

"Burn this place to nothing!" The entire clan seemed to chime in on the order to level the village. Po and Tigress looked around to see where the voices rang out from, they had to keep this from getting out of control which seemed already well set in motion. They turned to look back at the boar who grinned deviously at them.

"Well..I have heard the voice of the people, and that voice has pleaded for destruction, then who am I to ignore it?" He said with a sickening cackle. With a look of malice and sadism, the pig threw up his arms, sword in one hoove, the other outstretched toward the sky.

"Burn this place and the traitors within it!"Gasps and pleas were soon roaring from the crowd, women and children breaking down crying, men yelling in outrage. Within moments chaos had insued, the villagers swarmed out of the street, running every direction possible, some not even looking as they fled. The boars began grabbing as many of the small rabbit and geese villagers as they could carry and tied them to the buildings as the others began the hunt for the rest. Tigress jumped into the way of the boar soldiers, knocking the villagers free from their grasp as Po quickly followed behind, cutting the ropes they were bound with. The panda had never seen such a look of mayhem before, people in every possible place, fleeing for their lives, fires beginning to crawl through the village in several different spots. Po began getting caught up in the thick clouds of smoke as it roared through the valley like violent thunderstorms, entrapping everyone's sight and ability to leave.

The Hu family took no time in quickly gathering themselves and trailing the panda and tiger. The air choking them slightly, they trudged through the chaos, keeping as low as they could and staying as close to the dragon warrior as possible.

Tigress noticed the little rabbits following along closely,

"Po! Come on we need to keep them safe! Where do we go?" She asked in anxiousness, Po squinted his eyes and raised a paw to his brow to see through the death clouds of fire. Suddenly, all was quiet, everything felt as though sound was merely a distant memory in the panda's brain when a figure materialized in front of him.

_Oogway_

The turtle made no time for small talk, merely pointing in a direction through the fire and scorched buildings.

Po, "Hey Tigress, THIS WAY!" He said beginning to make a break for the path he'd been provided by the wise turtle. He kept everyone out of his way as Boars and villagers continued to block his path. Striking an armored boar in the stomach with his fist, launching it out of the way, he bellowed to make himself heard.

"VILLAGERS! FOLLOW THE DRAGON WARRIOR! I WILL KEEP YOU SAFE! STAY WITH US!" Few could hear him through the insanity that was the deteriorating village. Several foxes and serpants joined behind the striped feline as she kept pace with Po, hoping they could reach safety and quick. Running through the fields that had not yet caught flame, the group of family and warriors fled into a large house that sat on the outskirts of town. Kicking the doors open, the bear quickly ushered all inside and out of sight from the destructive pigs that sought to end them all. Tigress and Po both stood guard outside the broken doors of the darkened home, Breathing heavily and finding themselves overwhelmed by the sheer terror flowing through the village currently.

Po looked around quickly,

"Sincato! Where are you?" He could hear no response as everyone's cries of fear and frustration overpowered his ears. He could only hope the raccoon had found safety for now and just tried to keep up with Tigress as she began viciously pummeling every armored pig in sight of her.

The leader of the boars look around at the damage being done, his chapter would go down in history, he would be remembered, his name would be feared as it was read from the scrolls of history, and that was exactly how he'd wanted to go.

Resheathing his sword, he turned and began walking back up to his house with a full view of the village from the top of the hill. He wanted to see exactly what his subjects were capable of when it came to the destructive nature they all carried, this would be entertaining, that he new for sure. His joy was short lived though as a blade came soaring out from above the rooftops and embedded itself in the floor next to the pig's foot. The clan leader's eyes traced upwards, deciphering where the knife had originated from. There on the corner edge of the roof before him, stood a figure dressed in a sleeveless black robe with a silver belt. The creature pulled down his facemask and yanked down his hood, revealing two crimson eyes staring down at him with a look of sadist fascination. The boar looked up at the figure and took a strong stance, so someone wished to challenge him, oh how he loved where this was going. The figure lept down unto the lower wooden honing, allowing a clearer view of himself to the pig. The boar studied this character for a moment, a raccoon,

a black robed raccoon, he glanced back at the knife that stuck in the floor. It was not of a typical design he'd seen dozens of times before, the blade carried certain elements to it,

only that of a true blacksmith would know...

blacksmith...

The pieces of the frail memory of the boar's soon pieced together, realization striking him as he took a step back to strengthen his footing.

Sincato's eyes were wide and glowing ever so slightly as he stared down at this man.

_This is the one you have searched for_

_this is the being who took your family from you_

_this is the one who must suffer_

The voice of the devil within Sincato's mind chanted to the raccoon, slowly allowing itself to intergrate into the raccoon's body.

_You have waited so long for this moment_

_you must savor it_

_for it will be your last Sincato _

The boar glared up at the figure who's eyes burned upon him, Sincato absentmindedly pointed a black pointer claw at the pig before him as he kept his fixated gaze upon him. Everything seemed to fade away at that moment, the only thing standing out was the beast in front of him. The leader grinned and turned his head to the village that sat in charring demise and then back to the raccoon,

but he saw nothing over the rooftop anymore. The figure had disappeared as soon as it had arrived before him. Eyes peeled and battle ready, the great pig took his battle axe in hand and slowly turned in a circle, so it was a game of hide and seek was it? Laughing to himself at the sheer audacity of the raccoon to play with the pig's head, he stood prepared to face his vengeful opponent.

A pair of eyes opened up from a shadowed corner next to the pig, studying him for a moment before shutting just as he saw the orbs locked on him in the corner of his eye. Lashing out the pig swung at the corner honing, destroying the wooden crossbeams as if splitting wood. Wrenching his blade free he pulled it back to his side as he turned to see the figure again as it sunk a blade into his foot and disappeared. Letting out a quick grunt of pain, the boar pulled out the knife in his hoof and stuck it into his belt loop.

"You think you can play with me do you? You think my fear will bring them back? Nothing you do will make the difference that I have in this valley! NOTHING!" He yelled, his voice suddenly dying in his throat as from the raging fires appeared the black form of the raccoon before him. Sincato took a battle stance, strong and firm, both paws clutching his razor sharpened blades, his eyes closed as he prayed to himself.

"I ask not for forgiveness but only for those I care for, lead them to safety."

The black eyelids opened, revealing the burning orbs behind them. Launching off his right foot, he propelled into the smoke, disappearing from the pig's sight. Thunder struck as he slammed back to earth, his knives diving into the shoulder armor's gap where the metal hinged. The boar roared in surprise as he grabbed the raccoon's body and threw him off his back and swung his ax at the raccoon's head, taking off few hairs as the ringtail ducked at the same time. He then swung his hoofed foot toward the opening Sincato had to leave as he ducked from the blade, his metallic hove burying itself into Sincato's stomach, knocking him off the ground and into a wheeled merchant cart. The raccoon lost track of where he was for a moment, unfortunately his foe had not.

The leader grabbed the ringtailed blacksmith by the throat, in doing so, jolting the inner being's senses back into action. Sincato rammed his right knife into the grasping arm that held him and countered with quickly slashing deeply into the upper muscle of the boar, forcing his grip to fail. Swinging the ax again the boar smacked the raccoon across the face with the flat side of the blade, the force doing what a hammer intended for a nail. The black figure fell backwards to the ground, blinded by the massive trauma to his skull, unable to focus or move.

"Sincato, you've changed your appearance since I've been gone, back in your days of servitude, you were a simple, peaceful little guy." He said, kicking the raccoon in the side, earning a groan of pain from the raccoon.

"You were just such an easy target..."

*KICK*

"You were the easiest to manipulate..."

*SMACK* The side of the blade slamming against the raccoon's ribs, blood spat out of Sincato's mouth. He slowly rose to his knees, with every muscle he summoned,

He looked into the eyes of his tormentor, his gaze weak and pained.

The Boar looked down at him, smug and mentally victorious, he couldn't help but allow a smile cross his tusks.

Sincato held his breath as he heard a voice inside

_It is time for this to end_

_It is my time to emerge_

Sincato fell to a knee and grabbed his head, groaning and whimpering before the pig, his claws tightly yanking on his fur atop his head. Then, wrenching his head and arching his back, arms thrust outwards, the raccoon was struck by lightening. Screaming in pain and shock, the ringtail shook as the sky's energy pulsed through him. The pig watched, jaw gaping as he saw the small raccoon take on full thick swords of energy, slamming into him at intense speed and force. The lightening stopped seconds later, following up by heavy rain. Sincato fell to the earth from his knees and let his body splash into the watering mud, he just wanted it to be finished,

He lay in the mud awaiting his demise.

His eyes were closed tight, his whole body shaking from the abuse and the chilling rain that began pouring in buckets over the valley. The pig stopped as he towered over him, looking at the broken being before him. He leaned in close to the raccoon who gasped for breath, blood being coughed up with each intake of air.

"I'm going to enjoy your death raccoon,

"But not as much as I enjoyed your family's" Raising the axe above his head, he prepared to bring it down for the killing strike,

When

a sight stopped him in his tracks.

Through the pouring rain that splashed down upon the earth, the boar's attention shifted to a figure before him, one that was approaching him

with glowing red eyes.

Lowering his axe, the boar stood waiting for the figure to reach him, as it made its final steps, the blood from the pig's face suddenly drained.

There standing before the leader of the boar clan, stood a masked figure. Standing at least seven feet tall, a metallic and black wolf mask, one side covered in jagged metal thorns and the other utter darkness save for the bright illuminating red eyes behind the mask, its paws protruding from its cloak, soft black and gray fur leading down to serrated bladed fingers. Its body surrounded in black cloth, drenched in the downpour. The pig couldn't move for a minute, only able to watch as the raindrops trickled down the mask of the being before him. It stood silent, not making a sound as it stared straight into his soul it seemed.

Unsure of what to make of this creature before him, the pig lowered his axe slowly before it was suddenly wrenched out of his paws by the air. The pig gasped as his body was then lifted into the air and bound by invisible forces as the creature studied him. He struggled fiercely, thrashing and whipping his limbs about before he watched the being raise a paw out to him, reaching toward him with the knives for digits toward the pig. Squealing in fright, the boar struggled as the hand stopped suddenly.

Then the fingers curled

Rampant squeals and screams of sheer agony were heard instantly as the pig felt each single bone in his body one by one, ripping itself out of the muscle and flesh it was bound to. The figure stood silent as the boar before him bellowed and shrieked with pain and fear as he watched his ligaments and tendons tearing themselves out of his body. The pain was unbelievable, why couldn't he die? Why wasn't he passing out? Suddenly the figure grabbed his head, wrenching the helmet off his face and taking him by the hair. Staring directly into the eyes of the creature he suddenly saw flashes of images,

Families,

children,

parents,

all people he'd attacked, raided and murdered in the past. He'd never witnessed their executions, he would merely give the order and send his troops to do the dirty work. Gods, the violence when it was forcibly shown in front of him now made him want to shut his eyes, if he'd been able to . Children screaming, women and men crying as they were raped and tortured in front of each other.

The being leaned in close to the pig who's body hung broken and bleeding, his form shaking with fear and pain.

"You have done this, you have caused this pain you now endure and you will live your eternal life of it now as I bring you with me." He said to the pig, his voice filled with the thousands of echoing screams. The boar screamed in disbelief as the figure nodded. Through the gushing rain, a fire rose from the ground, encircling the two of them.

"Welcome to my domain." With those words, they disappeared into the ground.

Sincato lay in the pooling water and mud as Po and Tigress ran to his form. Po slid right next to him and picked him up.

"Sincato! Sincato speak to me! Sincato please don't be gone, please not yet!" He cried, pulling the raccoon's limp form to his ear to listen for a heartbeat Tigress took his body from the panda and brought her own ear to it.

She could hear nothing. There was no rhythm to be heard because there was not rhythm being played inside Sincato's chest. She bit her lip, shaking her head in denial,

"No no no come on there has to be-" She pulled him in close again her head pressed flat against his chest, tears already forming in her eyes as she cradled the raccoon. Po gently scooped the ringtail from the striped arms of his teammate. His eyes grew flooded with tears,

but he refused to cry,

he refused to give in that his friend was dead, that he was gone forever. Cradling the raccoon in his arms as the rain continued to drop upon them, Po gently ran a finger over Sincato's face,

"Sin, if you can hear me, please,

please wake up." From behind them, the footsteps of small wandering feet were heard running through the turned,

_Oh no..._

coming next to them was the daughter of the rabbit family, Hu. Tigress turned to the panda,

"Po." She said softly, pointing at the that rabbit came running up to them.

"Sincato? She asked as she ran closer, Po turned his back to her, hiding the raccoon from the child. Tigress tried to grab her, but the rabbit dodged and ran over to Po's arms, clutching Sincato. Hu gasped as she saw the raccoon laying limply in Po's arms. Looking up into Po's eyes, she grasped at straws,

"He's going to be okay right? He's not gonna go away will he?" The questions tugged at the bear's heart as he closed his eyes and let the tears stream down his black an white face. Not getting an immediate response from the dragon warrior, tears began filling the bunny's eyes as she felt herself choking up. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around the raccoon's soaked fur, pulling herself close into him, letting her tears run down his black cloak. Sobbing heavily, the little rabbit cried into the raccoon's chest as the bear held both of them close, Tigress laying a paw on the dragon warrior's shoulder.

"Lets get inside." Po rose with the two in his arms as Tigress walked by his side as they journeyed to the safe house they'd taken.

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A/N, man that took a minute to get out! I know its a sad chapter but life can be quite sad at times, the conclusion should be up in a few weeks. Thank you all for reading. Read and review


	15. Of love and sacrifice

A/N, Greeting all readers, this is the concluding chapter to Newcomer of the valley, its been a fun story to work on and I hope you all enjoyed it as I have. Thank you for all the reviews and I hope to do more in the future.

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Trudging through the pouring rain, the leaders of the Valley of Peace headed for the home they had fled toward earlier to escape the attack on the valley. Not a word was spoken as they made their way to the shelter from the rain, Po clutched Sincato and Hu in his arms, eyes focused on the home they approached.

Setting him down gently on the bed, Po covered the raccoon with a blanket brought by one of the villagers. His paw held itself in midair as his fingers refused to drop the sheet over the face of the raccoon. He felt his eyes grow moist again as he stood motionless looking down upon his recent friend. The dragon warrior was known for his warming to almost anyone, the gravity of setting the final curtain upon a friend he had just discovered brought tremendous strain on his emotions. He wasn't able to merely press on and subside his feelings when someone close to him had died, especially one that had sought him for aid. Po's lip began to tremble, Tigress ushered the others out of the room and walked up to the panda. He closed his eyes tight, feeling his emotions overwhelming himself, gentle tears soaking down his black ringed eyes and onto his white cheeks.

Tigress laid her paw over his and as slowly as it felt necessary, began undoing the panda's grip on the blanket. He let out a soft whimper as she pulled him into a tight embrace, sitting them both on the floor as Po began to release. She wrapped a paw behind his head and stroked it slowly and comfortingly as she could while her other paw stayed in place around his belly. The tiger held him close as he cried into her red vest. Sniffling, he pulled his head back and let his green eyes meet her orange ones,

"Sniff, Tigress...I..I can't-" She brought a finger to his lips to silence him.

"Panda, you don't have to say anything, I'm here for you, you know that." She said warmly, dabbing away his tears with her right paw. He sniffled slightly as he let her finish drying his fur, he raised a paw and connected it with her' a another word, he wrapped her up in his arms, resting his forehead against the tiger's. Closing her own eyes, Tigress used the paw on the back of Po's head and brought him in for a kiss. It felt, right, the panda and the feline refused to move as they locked their lips with one another. Po finally broke away and held his head up as he ran a paw over Tigress's white fur that lined her chin,

"Thank you."

Sincato had to squint his eyes at the intense light that showered every spec of his environment as he strode forth. Covering his brows with one paw, he looked around for anything familiar,

turning his head to the left, his jaw dropped.

There before him, stood a woman and a little boy, He turned his body to face them.

He studied the happy little child for a moment, his mind telling him this wasn't really there. The raccoon child was dressed in a blue robe with a gold band, his green eyes staring eagerly up from his black fur around his eyes, his white eyebrows raised in optimistic pleading as he came closer to the standing black robed ringtail. Sincato took a knee before the boy, his own eyes filling with tears, but for once in years, had these not been tears of pain,

They were those of unbelievable joy.

He needed no proof,

His wife and son had found him.

Sincato opened his arms wide and hugged his boy tight to his chest, the small raccoon embracing him with all his small muscles could take. His wife beamed as she wrapped the two of them in a group hug. For years he had waded through the heartache of loss, for years he had gone without their touch, but no more, yes? No longer had he been forced to wait to hold his loved ones in his arms,

to feel his wife's face as he ran a paw through her beautiful soft gray fur as she held him. Being able to look into her deep blue orbs once more seemed to purify all regrets and sadness he'd ever carried. He had made it, it had taken him from the world, but he'd made it to his family.

A figure strode toward them in the distance of the white light around them. Sincato's eyes looked up as the figure approached the family, out of instinct he leapt infront of the two, his arms holding them behind his black robes.

The light parted and emerged the figure of an aged turtle. Slow but confident in each step he took, the reptile used his staff to support himself as he made his way to the family. Sincato's eyes grew three sizes,

"Master Oogway..." The turtle smiled warmly and nodded his head, the raccoon instantly bowed before the master, his family following suit. Sincato stood frozen in his honoring for a moment before his wife laid her paw upon his right shoulder,

"Dearly beloved, Master Oogway has something you must be told." Sincato nodded and stood, his paws clasped together in front of his stomach, smiling at the turtle he waited patiently for the elder to speak.

"Son, you have found your way to the afterlife, to see it for all the beauty in the world." He said, lifting his arms to emphasis the world around him. Sincato smiled warmly and nodded as he held on to his son, his wife standing next to him. The ringtail wanted to speak his happiness about the crossing over, but soon saw the turtle's expression shift from warm to one of slight sadness.

"Although, I am afraid you must return to the mortal realm..." These words crashed into the raccoon's ears like seven buildings on top of him at once. His ears twitched as he could swear he'd misheard the turtle.

"...w..What? Why? Why can I not stay?" He asked as he felt his world crashing as soon as it had hit the mountain's peak.

"Dear Sincato, you will have plenty of time to see your family again, but for now at least, you are needed back in the valley of Peace. Your love and care for the Shim family has created a bind to the mortal world that must be repaired. They need you Sincato, and my students as well." The raccoon began to get short of breath as he dropped to a knee once more before the turtle.

"Is...isn't there any other way?" The turtle master grimly shook his head ever so slowly. Sincato fell to his knees, bringing his paws to his face as crushing emotional distress flooded his mind. Covering his eyes with his black paws, his crystal clear tears slowly trailed down through his fingers, dripping down upon his robe covered knees. Through his remainder of his mortal existance he'd repeated the phrase,

_This isn't fair, this isn't right_

Now it dared to haunt him in the afterlife. _  
_

Oogway leaned in to the sobbing ringtail, who's wife and child stood close behind him. The son watching his father go through wrenching heartache as he'd seen from the skies with his mother when Sincato had found them in the grass after their earthly departure. The turtle did his best to comfort the raccoon,

"Dear boy, I know you wish not to return after having lost your family, I sense how hard this has been for you already. The true nature of it is though, you are needed, and quite desperately my son. Please, I ask you, give yourself back to those who cry for you now, let their suffering be eased." This line struck a nerve with Sincato as he leapt to his feet before the master, anger filling his heart.

"Suffering? What does anyone truly know of suffering? I lost my only son, my dearly beloved wife. Stolen from me!" He cried out, paws brushing back the fur on his head, sniffling and wiping his soaked black fur below his eyes,

"For years I had to go alone, knowing I could not merely end myself and join them dare I be cast into hell! I can't....I can't do this again." He breathed in a whimpered howl, his body shuddering as he tried to regain control over himself.

His wife picked him up and stood in front of him. He felt his ears drop as with his whiskers as she brought a gentle paw to his cheek.

"My darling, from our view from the skies I've watched you look over that family, how you guided them through all obstacles, how you cared for them." She held his face in her paws, His eyes looked down as she continued.

"I know you want only to stay with us, as we with you, but I must ask you to do this, do it for us, do it for the valley. We will always be here watching over you and soon you may come to rest with us, forever." Sincato sniffed and wiped his eyes as he tried not to allow his sadness to overtake him. Staring into his wife's crystal blue eyes, he shut his eyes and nodded.

"I'll look up to you each an every night my love." He said weakly as he wrapped them in a tight hug, his son with his little paws clutching his lost father lovingly. Sincato let out a deep breath as he turned to face the turtle once more.

"What do I do to return?"

"You will awake soon, your body, while battered from the fight, was left a parting gift from your puppeteer. That was that you would have a single chance to return to the mortal world. I had not seen this nor expected it but as it stands, you will come back to the others in your sleep." He said gently. The black robed raccoon sighed and nodded. Taking one final look at his child and bride, he drew in a breath and let it out smoothly.

Closing his eyes he let the glowing world around him disappear, darkness overcoming his vision.

The temporary residents sat outside the room that held Sincato's body. No one wished to disturb the eternal peace the warrior had slipped into. Po looked about the room at all who'd taken shelter in the decaying residence. There were the shim family members, a family of serpents, two young pigs, no parents that could be seen, a lone white fox wiping her eyes in the corner. Po gathered himself and approached the weeping fox, taking a seat on the floor next to her as she sat in a wooden chair. She sniffled and turned to make eye contact with the dragon warrior, he did his best to give her a smile, though all he could muster was a small grin.

"I suppose you knew Sincato quite well is that right?" He asked her as she finished drying her fur with her handkerchief. She nodded slowly, a slow intake of breath coming from her,

"Yes, before everything happened, before the bandits, we were close friends. I...I'd have him come over every now and again just to have someone to talk to for once. I live alone, by choice, its a long story but yes we were quite close." She said, Po looked across the room at the door that sat shut, blocking off his view of the raccoon blacksmith.

"I only just met him a few weeks earlier, but the time spent with him was the best I've had in years." He said trying not to choke up, looking back up at her again, he lifted his face into a positive appearance, getting up, he walked over to Tigress and tapped her on the shoulder as she spoke with one of the pigs.

"Hey, I need to put my mind at ease for a moment at least, is anyone hungry for anything?" Tigress smiled and hugged him,

"I've been hoping for some soup to honest."

Noone noticed her enter,

her parents had checked to make sure she was alright but let her go off on her own in the house to mourn. She entered the room, closing the door behind her, and turned to face the bed. The soft white sheet that rested atop the raccoon was hard to look at honestly. She slowly walked over to him, her paws held in front of her, her two large ears drooping before her face as she approached the body. Hopping up on the side of the bed, she sat with her back to him, she couldn't look at him, his face with those lively green eyes that had, since the day she'd met him, sparked joy and happiness in her life. To see them now, clod and glassed over, no shine or soul within them was too much to see, so she sat next to him.

"I was scared of you when you first saved me. I thought you might've wanted to know that..." She started off, unsure where her one sided conversation was headed.

"You were kinda scary looking, all black with masks and stuff...I didn't know what to think. But...but when you helped me, you seemed less dangerous, you seemed more like a big brother to me." The young rabbit felt her eyes welling up as she went on,

"I never had a brother before, or anyone to look out for me besides my mommy and daddy...you could've lived with us you know that? My parents wouldn't of minded, they liked you alot." She sniffled and rubbed her eyes. The sheet behind her slowly started to peel itself off the raccoon's face as she continued.

"I wanted to go with you wherever you were gonna go, and now I'll never get to." She hung her head, letting her soft furry ears hang over her face, her tears falling to the floor's dusty cracked woodwork. Sincato peeked an eye at her as she sat beside him. She shuddered a sigh of breath, feeling every part of it releasing from her, a chill running down her back.

"You know..." A recognizable voice began, nearly sending the bunny off the side of the bed as she whipped around to face what was behind her. She looked at the sheet, nothing had moved, the raccoon was still under there. She sighed, that voice had seemed so clear to her, was she letting her mind get to her? She closed her eyes and let her head fall back down off the side of the bed when she felt something rest on the mattress adjacent to her.

"You know, if you'd wanted a adopted brother, all you had to do was ask." Her eyes sprang open and turned her head to the side to find the raccoon sitting on his knees, resting his head on its side on his forearms on the mattress, his eyes warmly looking up at gasped in shock,

"You! You're, you-" He smiled at the child,

"Yes I am, for as long as you want my dear." She hopped over and threw her arms around him and squeezed, earning a groan of pain from the ringtail. She pulled back immediatly, not wanting to injure him further,

"Oh Gods I'm sorry I'm so sorry!" He held up a black paw for her to stop her apologies,

"I'm alive, just not fully functional just yet." She could only smile wide enough, the raccoon expected the ends of her lips would reach the back of her head. She wrapped him up in a softer but just as powerful hug, nuzzling her face into his robed chest. He laid a paw behind her head, stroking back her long ears as he hugged her back. She quickly leaped off the bed and dragged him out of the room.

"Guys! Everyone!" The young bunny raised the house's attention as everyone turned to see Hu pulling Sincato out into the hall. Po lifted his head, as his eyes registered what stood before him, he dropped the spoon he'd been mixing the soup with, into the pot in shock. Sincato watched in silence as everyone looked at him as he approached the panda. Po stood frozen in place as the raccoon, battle worn and ragged, walked up to him and stopped.

"I suppose you'll still want that knife lesson huh." He posed the question out to the bear who actually fell backwards, thankfully caught by tigress and several others, hoisting him back to his feet.

"Sin...Sincato? I'm not dreaming am I?" The excited rabbit leaped high in the air beside the raccoon.

"Nope, he's alive!" Sincato smiled and nodded in agreement,

"I'm here to stay Dragon Warrior." He said, making a fist, wrapping it with the other paw and bowing before the panda. Po's face trembled as he returned the bow, a grin appearing on the panda's face to match Hu's.

"You're just in time for dinner." He said, gesturing with a paw over to the stove and the boiling pot over it." Sincato smiled as he pulled up a chair at the end of the table and sat.

"I knew I came back for a good reason."

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A/N, Wow, the final chapter is finally finished. As you can all see I couldn't let Sincato's character be killed off because there are possibly more KFP stories coming and I want the option to be able to include him. I am thankful to have such great readers as you all, who have shown greatness in yourselves with your reviews and support. I have enjoyed this story from the moment I started it and now that we've journeyed to this end, all I can say is thank you.


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